Isn't life just a kick in the crotch
by In2lalaland
Summary: So your straight best friend just offered to try to turn himself gay for you, what do you say? MM 2x5x2 AU. A love story with a twist. Version one
1. Chapter 1

(I don't own Gundam Wing)

* * *

_Isn't life just a kick in the crotch._

"I don't know what to do. I just want to push him down and fuck him." He said in a desperate voice. What do you tell your gay friend that has the hots for one of his straight friend? Well in my case you say;

"Welcome to my world."

"Shit. Right you got that Chinese guy."

"Yeah" I sigh and drain my beer. 'That Chinese guy' just happened to be my best friend. My very straight best friend. Chang Wufei. I've known him practically my whole life. Our mothers were best friends and their family lived next door. We were the same age, we liked the same things, we were in the same class and on the same baseball team. We did just about everything together and you could never find one of us without finding the other. We were like brothers.

I always knew that I loved him. I mean, you love your brother, don't you? But when we were somewhere around thirteen-fourteen I started to realize that maybe loving him the way I did were not such a brotherly thing to do. But I ignored it. So I talked about girls and checked them out with the rest of my friends. I started dating them, kissed them, slept with them and pretended to love them. It went on for years. You could not find a bigger lady's man then me back then. It changed when I got a scholarship to attend a out of state collage for my writing. It was a eye opening thing to set foot in a place were no one know you, or your mother, father, grandfather or especially your best friend. And then I met Sean. He was in my creative-writing class and after a lecture we wondered over to a coffee shop and started talking. That's were he during a discussion about desserts said the words that were to change my world.

'-God no, I hate blueberry's, but my ex-boyfriend was mad about them. Give him a piece of blueberry pie and he would rolled over and spread them for you. I became something of a pie expert there for a while', then he laughed and went on talking. Just like that! He just outed himself to a total stranger in the middle of a coffeehouse. Like it was no big deal that he was gay and could bribe his ex-BOYFRIEND with pie to have sex. It was mindbogglingly to meet someone that didn't hide. That didn't feel dirty or ashamed for being gay. That gave me the courage to open up to being gay. Sean was my lifeline through that time. I couldn't talk to my family or friends from back home and that just made me feel so lost and empty. I think not being able to talk to Wufei was among the hardest things. We had always been so close and suddenly I couldn't tell him a thing about what was the hardest time of my life. The thing was that the more I accepted that I was gay, and the more content and accustom I became with my life, the less I could tell Wufei. And Sean, that by then had become my boyfriend, was a subject that did not come up. Ever. I was a bit of a coward, I admit. But the thought of telling him made me want to hyperventilate. But collage ended and a friend of my dad got me a job at the local newspaper. It's not the greatest workplace but it will look god on my resume. So I moved back to my home town. And so did Wufei. He had been going to a art school in New York and had moved back to town just a couple of months before I did. The lucky bastard is able to support himself on his art, something I probably never going to be able to do with my writing.

The thing was, that I really thought I was over him. After Sean and I broke up, I gave up on the idea of the perfect boyfriend and dated just about anyone that was interested. Pathetic I know, but not ones during that time did I think about Wu in that way. So it came as a total surprise when I saw him again. I had just steeped out of the car outside my parents house when I heard him call my name. Half a second late I had my ams around the man that I, even if we weren't as close that we ones were, considered my best friend. He wrapped his arms around me and told me how good it was to see me. I agreed and took a deep breath of the smell of pure Wufei. I reluctantly let him go and took a steep back and looked into the smiling face of what had to be the most beautiful man on the planet. Golden skin, jet black hair and those beautiful dark eyes. I think I stooped breathing there for a while. Thats when I knew I was in trouble. We started catching up and ended up in my old room, sitting side by side on my bed with our backs against the wall, like no time had past at all. So, in the end, it took less then fifteen minutes for me to fall for him all over again. So here I am. 25, single, back in the closet and hopelessly in love with my straight best friend. Isn't life just a kick in the crotch.

I take another bottle from the table. Me and Kevin has taken to getting together every now end then to let off steam over our fucked up lives. No, we are not letting off steam trough sex. Just ranting, drinking and cursing. It's both good and very sad to know that there is two of us living in the closet in this town. But opposite to Kevin who's going back to San Fransisco in the fall, I am stuck here on indefinite time. Damn, need another beer. Grabbing another one I make a mental note to let this be my last one. I'm meeting Fei later, and he hates it when I'm drunk. The guy have that health thing going on. Not that I'm complaining, his abs are a work of art, not to mention those biceps that are just not of this world... mmmm, damn, getting horny. Maybe a trip to the bathroom for a date with my left hand would be in order... or maybe hmmm, I must be just a little bit on the drunk side since I'm considering trying for a pity fuck out of Kevin. I mean he is not half bad if you go for the pumped up football player look. Which I normally don't. I'm more for the petite and lean ones... like Wufei. Damn, there I go again. A pity fuck might just be what I need and if my memory from that football camp is correct, Kevin was leaning towards the big side. Hmmm, speaking of... Kevin just catch me eying his crotch. O my, mountain of muscles coming my way. Mmm, I missed kissing. It's been far to long since I got laid. Ah, right here is something positive about sex with someone this much bigger, getting pushed down into the couch is nice. Oh, there goes my hands over my head. Right, Kevin was the one that liked holding his lovers down... not that I'm complaining because mmmm, thats very nice. We should be wearing a lot less clothes if we want then to stay clean. And..AHhh, that thigh felt very good right there.

One second I'm surrounded by heat, and the next there is a "Get the fuck of him!" and a 'wush' of air and I'm alone on the couch.

Oh Shit! I look over to the floor and there is Wufei beating the shit out of Kevin. Did I mention that Wu have this black belt lying around? No? Well I can tell you it's not for show. And I think it's time for me to interfere.

Grabbing a hold around my best friends waist i managed to pull him of.

"Wu! Chill man, it's not what you think, calm down."

"What the fuck man, you broke my tooth!" Kevin complained.

"Get out Kevin. Now!" I shout as Wufei try to make a break for it. Holding tight I manage to hold him back as Kevin obeyed me.

"Duo, what, and he, what the fuck is going on?!"

Letting him go I pick myself of the floor only to drop down on the couch with my head in hands. I was so hopping not having to do this in, ooh about a 100 years.

"Duo?"

God, he sound so lost. Like his world just tipped up side down. And maybe it did, things won't be the same after this. Because he knows now. What if I lose him, I can't lose him, not when I just found him again. But I have to tell him.

"I'm gay." I don't dare to look at him. Like a child holding their hand over there eyes saying 'I can't see you, so you can't see me'.

"Your... but you...How long?"

Ah yes, thats Wufei for you. Always cutting down to the important part. 'Fuck this. Let's just get it all out.' "Since like fourteen or something when I figure out that I was in love with you"

There is a long stretch of silence that was cut off by the sound of a slamming door closely followed by my heart breaking in pieces.

* * *

I woke up by someone knocking heavily on the apartment door. But I ignore it. The knocking continued.

'Yes, yes, I can hear you, but there is -no- way that I'm getting up again. I just got home from work. I didn't even take the time to get my jeans of before I crash landed in bed. And if voluntarily sleeping in tight jeans doesn't speak for it self then...' A muffled shout was heard from the door but I ignored it to.

"fugh of" I mumble into the pillow.

"You really should get a better lock on you door, it took me like five seconds to get it open." I heard a voice say from my bedroom door. There was a pause before I almost throw myself up in a sitting position with the cover wrapped over my shoulders.

"...I thought you weren't coming back." I said in a small voice.

"Oh for god sake Duo, I always leave when I'm pissed of! You know that." 'And I did. Wufei was a bit strange like that. He hates angry conflicts with people he likes and respects. So on the rare occasions that he became angry with his close ones he always wondered of to meditate and came back with logical arguments. I don't think anyone ever won a argument with him.'

"I forgot" I pulled my cover closer around my naked chest. 'Thank god I didn't take my pants of, that would have been awkward'. I watched Wu as he started to pace back and forth in my small bedroom.

"I was pretty pissed that you didn't tell me. But that's understandable considering the subject. Well I think I found a solution to this but it's going to take some work. I did a bit of research and I found this psychologist named Thornwell that wrote a report about sexuality. He made a examination of bisexuals and their outlook on attraction. And based on those results he came up with this theory that you could control your own sexuality. That with the right line of thinking you could change what you found appealing in a partner and there by your sexuality."

I don't know if I should be laughing or crying. It was such a Wufei way of thinking. There were a problem, you read about it, you came up with a few theory's and started trying them out. I settled for a sad laugh.

"Wu, believe me when I say, that if I had a choice, I would not be gay. I have been trying for years to be straight but it..."

"Not you baka, me."

"...what?"

"Well think about it. I already love you, I'm just not IN love with you, that we could work on. The only real problem should be the gender thing. But if I manage to determine what it is about women I find attractive, I should be able to draw a parallel between those things and things about the male body. I have not attempted this, but in theory it should work. Another way of looking at this would be to become accustom to the differences. Humans are very adaptable, we constantly change our ways in order to function in our environment.

'Trust Wufei to turn me being in love with him in to a documentary of human nature.'

"So as a human, I should be able to adapt to this."

'Oh god, he's serious. I have to stop this before this get out of hand.'

"Wu your not gay."

"Not yet I'm not. But if my calculations are correct..."

Oh no, his turning this into a math problem with a logical answer. I feel like banging my head against a wall. How the hell did I fall in love with such a geek?

"Wu, Wu please just stop. This is not something you have to fix. There is no right answer and no easy way out. But most of all, this is not your problem, it's mine. You don't have to change or 'adapt' to this. I just have to get over you, that all there is to it."

Wufei just stopped and looked at me. He gave a sigh and walked over to the side of my bed and sat down next to me.

"How long have you been in love with me?" He asked meeting my eyes straight on. I could feel my face burning.

"About 10 years or so." I mumbled and looked down at my hands. I really needed to take better care of my nails. These last few days I have been biting non-stop on them and...

Wufei cut of my line of thought by taking a hold of one of my hands. Shivers went down my spine as rough callous went over the palm of my hand.

"If this haven't gone away for ten years, don't you think it's time to try something else? I'm willing to see if we can make this work, will you let me?

So your straight best friend just offered to try turning himself gay for you, what do you say. I'm not convinced that what his saying is possible. I have been fighting my own sexuality for so long and I really believe that it's something you are born with, something that you can't control... something permanent. But looking into those dark eyes...he looks so sure of himself, like he knows this will work. It sounds crazy, but on the other hand, Wufei always have some crazy plan that he is working on. If the guy ever decides to become a terrorist, the world would be in a lot of trouble. But looking back, I can't remember Wu ever failing with one of his plans. Could it be possible? Could it be that it would work and I could have...The thought just hit me for real, I-could-have-Wufei, he could be mine. I gave up hope on that dream when I was fifteen and Wufei introduced me to his girlfriend. And now, hope is returning. But to embrace hope only to have this turn out to be a failure will probable break my heart. Can I risk it? But how can I not risk it for the chance to have, god I hate this expression, but I could have the love of my life. I take a deep breath.

"Okay, we'll do this you way." He smiles that big grin of his. The one that shows all those perfects white teeth of his. Not a lot of people get to see it, and for a second I pretend that I'm the only one that does.

"So... how are we going to do this?" I ask as I rearrange my self on the bed. The covers slips of my shoulder and I can almost feel his eyes on me like a physical touch. He suddenly looks really nervous.

"Eh, I emm, I kind of, think that maybe I'm going to go with the theory about humans adaptability. It seems like the best way to approach this." He runs a hand over his hair, making some of it fall out of his ponytail. "Well, maybe, the ehmm, what you call the more 'improper advancing' would be the most effective way to grow accustom to the diversity between the two sexes." It takes my brain a second to catch up. Did he just offer to have sex with me?! I wonder if this is the world way of paying me back for all the trouble I've had. 'Sorry about that, here have some sex with your best friend as a consolation.' It's never safe to assume things but please, please, please let it be so.

"Fei... did you just suggest that we have sex?" Oh, I didn't know that Chinese people could turn that color. He looks even more nervous now and he's even started to fidget. I don't think I've ever seen him like this.

"Erh, well if- if we ehm, I think-...yeah." His eyes ones again wanders to where the covers slipped of. He moves closer and puts a shaky hand on my naked shoulder. Very slowly his fingers started to wander, down my collar bone, up along my neck and down again.

"It's like the same thing, like with a girl, right?" He liked his lip in a nervous gesture and his eyes that had been locked on his own wandering hand, meet mine.

What I saw in his eyes just confirmed my suspicion. Wufei was a nervous wreck.

"Yeah, pretty much the same thing." I said trying to calm him down. "Wu, are you sure about this. We don't have to do anything. There is no reason to be..." nervous, afraid, panic-stricken... went trough my head but I needed something that would not hurt his pride... "feeling out of place. Look at me. I'm still Duo, I'm still the guy you went camping with in the backyard, the same guy that held your secret on what really happened to your fathers apple tree. That makes bad jokes and can't ever be on time. I'm still me... and I would never do anything that you didn't want me to do." Just watching him relax at my words made me take control over my hormones. There were no way I was going to screw this up.

"Come on, let's go." I said as I throw off the cover and got up to find a shirt. 'Hmm, black tight t-shirt, that one looks good on me'.

"Go? Were are we going?" Turning towards him I couldn't help but smile at his confusion. "If we hurry, we can catch that Tarantino movie at eight." I started pulling the shirt over my head, and I'll be damned if Fei didn't just check out my chest as I stretched. Feeling overjoyed that this just might work, it just might.

"But, why?" He asked looking up at me from his spot on my bed looking muddled and just adorable. I could not help myself as I walked over to him and did something that I had been wanting to do for years. I leaned down and tucked a piece of hair behind his ear as I planted a soft kiss on his forehead.

"Because you and I are going on a date. Now come on, let's go. But know this..." I put on a serious face. "I will not under no circumstances, share my popcorn." With that I leave the room with the sound of Wufei's startled laughter ringing in my ear.

* * *

A/N. I still haven't decided if I'm going to leave this as a one-shot or not. Opinion, anyone?

Based upon a conversation with a friend.


	2. Chapter 2

(I don't own Gundam Wing)

Chapter 2

Chang Wufei POW

I don't think I have ever been so shocked as when Duo told me he was gay. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that my first thought was that it had to be something new, like twenty minutes kind of new. In my mind there just were no way that Duo could have been gay while we grow up. Absolutely no way. Because Duo was like the ultimate player. He always had a hot girlfriend on his arm. He was the one that whistled to the passing girls, that flirted non stop and had more sex then all our friends combined. His bedroom door might as well been a revolving door for all the girls that went trow it. But then, he told me that not only was he gay and had been so for the last ten years, but also that he had been in love with me just as long. Why didn't he tell me this before? We have known each other since like forever. I more or less had two mothers and two fathers growing up. So why didn't he tell me this? And how didn't I know? I thought I know him better then anyone, so how did I miss something like this? I wonder if his parents knows? Duo have always been close to them, so I have a hard time believing that he could keep it from them. Duo and his parents is not only close but also a lot like each other. The biggest difference has always been their love lives. His parents met like the first day of high school and have been just about married since then. Maybe that's one of the reasons that I always thought it was out of character for Duo to got through so many girls as he did. Considering he is one of the most reliable and loyal guys I have ever met. But when I asked him about it years ago, he simply told me that he hadn't found the right girl yet. But now I realize that he never expected to find one. It was all an act.

When I left him sitting in his apartment with his head in his hands, I was just so angry. Angry at him for not telling me. Angry at myself for not knowing. Angry at the world for putting us in this situation. But when I got home and had a chance to think it through, I got thinking about all those girls he went trough. How he never seemed to be able to find someone that was good enough to keep for longer then a few weeks. Now looking back I wonder if all that hunting... how much was just a smokescreen to hide that he was gay and how much was just because he had already found what he was looking for, just like his parents had. Only that he couldn't have what he wanted because, what he wanted... was me. Was it all because of me? Gods what a headache. It must have been hell for him, to see me practically every day, and still be there for me when I needed him. When my parents were arguing or if I needed to get away from someone I was mad at, I almost always went to Duo. Especially when it was about one of my girlfriends. Because Duo always gave the best advice... man, that must have been a kick in the crotch.

Then there was... that time. I don't like thinking about it. But I did end up in a...depression. I'm still not comfortable with it. Just hearing the word makes me feel weak like a stupid onna who starts crying over nothing. I don't know when it started, but I was sixteen when I started with the therapy and the pills. It was actually Duo who got me to acknowledge that something was wrong. He does have this way of knowing things like that. When he first broth it up I was to proud and more or less blow up in his face on how it was non of his business how I was feeling. But he just came back. Gods, I called him the worst of things and he still came back, over and over again. Until I broke down, hit him in the face, started crying in his arms and told him everything. He helped me through it and were there for me every steep on the way and I know I'm better today because of him. It's all thanks to him and I love him for it.

And when I was sitting on my bed thinking back, and that thought -It's all thanks to him and I love him for it- went through my head. It startle me and I started thinking. What was different between the love that I already felt for him and the love he obviously felt for me? And I was not just thinking highly of myself, assuming that he still was in love with me, I know Duo and I saw the look in his eyes when he told me. He is still in love with me.

And I do love him. He is one of the most important people in my life. But I am not IN love with him. But what was the differences? So, I tried to find out.

* * *

And that's how I found myself sitting in a dark movie theater next to my best friend. That in it self is not so strange. But the fact that we are here on a date is to strange for words. I can't remember ever being this nervous. Not even that time when I asked Sara Johnston out, only to get shot down in the middle of the school yard. Come to think of it, Duo was the one that made me feel better after that. Like always. I pray to whatever gods up there, that this will work. I really want to make him happy. I glance over to my right. Duo's eyes are fixed on the screen and I can fell myself relaxing at the sight. Duo getting lost in a movie is just so... normal. He always gets trapped in the story, no matter if it's a book, a movie or a old drunk telling him about when he won gold in the Olympic Games.

Back when we where kids we would build a tent in my room and we would tell each other story's. Duo always was the perfect listener, because he would get so into what you were telling him. He just loved all story's. That's probably one of the reasons why he became a writer.

Looking at him now I can see how right he was earlier. He is still Duo, nothing has changed. Not even his sexuality, it's the same as it was before, only that I know about it now. I wonder what would have been different if he had told me before.

I admit that I never really understood homosexuality. I still don't get it. I can't really say I'm homophobic, I just never been around many of them... non that was open any way. I came across a couple of them while living in New York. But they were all so over the top, that you just started thinking about them as a women in a male body. But Duo...Duo just don't fit into my view of how someone gay should act. Maybe he just thinks his gay... duh, idiot, yeah he just felt like alienating himself for eleven years because he thought it would be fun. I never knew I was this prejudiced. Stupid, stupid, stupid bastard.'

I started hitting my head against the back of the seat. Duo gave me a strange look and I could fell myself blushing. 'Thank the gods that it's dark in here.' I look over at the smiling face next to me.

Duo is leaning over to me with a twinkle in his eyes. "Let me know if your having a mental breakdown... I need a second to get my cell up so I can shoot it and put it on Youtube." he whispered.

"Bastard!" I hissed loudly, making few people nearby glare at us, with is making my blush even worse.

Duo shock in silent laughter.

"So you think that's funny." I say glaring at him.

Not giving Duo a chance to answer, I poke my finger into Duo's waist. I can feel myself grinning in satisfaction when Duo let's out a scream that might as well have been made by a ten year old girl. And then the war was on.

* * *

"I can't believe we got thrown out of the theater." Wufei said as they were walking side by side down the street.

"Well if you hadn't pulled me of the seat-"

"You were going to stuff Popcorn down my shirt!"

"Well you started it!"

"I did not start it!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Haha! I got you to play the did-did-not game." Duo snickered and ducked a smack from the irritated Chinese.

"Duo! You childish baka. Stand still so I can beat that stupidity out of you!" He made a leap for his friend that where laughing like a loon as he started running down the street. They didn't slow down until they were standing outside Wufei's apartment. Wufei was breathless and could hardly stay on his feet. He glared in irritation at the braided man that was watching him in amusement as he calmly leaned against the opposite wall... breathing casually.

"Ba- bastard" He puffed.

"Hey, its not my fault that you're out of shape and can't run." Suddenly looking a bit awkward, Duo walked over to his panting friend.

"Thank you Fei, it was nice." He leaned over and placed a kiss on a smooth chin. With that, he smiled and walked away, leaving his dumbstruck date on his doorstep.

* * *

Have no fear, there will be more!

Thank you Aniratac for all you help.


	3. Chapter 3

I own nothing.

I hope you'll like it.

Chapter 3

Saturday morning, one week after his first date with Duo, Wufei were watching porn. For a purely scientific reasons of course. Or at least that was what he was telling himself. It had absolutely nothing to do with with the fact that he had not gotten laid since he moved back to his hometown. It was not about getting of, Wufei reasoned, because he still had his pants on. It didn't count when you had your pants on.

Now, according to Thornwell's theory you could change you sexuality, or maybe the right thing to call it was to twist your sexuality, with your will. So, the first thing you had to do was to find what it was about the opposite sex that you found attractive. Therefor the porn.

With a pad and a pen in his hands, he were now going to write a list of attractive features... while watching porn. Now, first thing on the list were definitely breasts. Not to big, not to small. Soft and full. Breasts that fitted in your hands and wh- right, getting of track. Next on the list came ass. 'Yes' Wufei thought as he watched a spectacular ass move across the screen. 'A nice ass was one very, very attractive feature.' Wufei shook himself when he once again got distracted by the beautiful girls on the screen. Girls that had just discovered the "toy box" that just happened to stand in the middle of the room. After adjusting himself for a second, he turned his attention back to the pad.

He did have a thing for blonds. In fact -all- of his ex-girlfriends where blonds. Something his friends and family had always teased him about... including Duo. Putting down -blonds- on his list, Wufei turned back to the screen where the girls with the toy box now were being joined by a pretty gardener in a short skirt and high heels. Wufei spared a stray thought on how unpractical it must be to work in a garden wearing high heels. But considering that this was a porn movie, things like that was irrelevant. Because she did look hot in those bright red heels. Wufei put down -feet- on the list. Marie, one of his ex-girlfriends from New York had owned heels like that. Damn, she had been sexy when she walked around in them. Marie with the beautiful eyes and the killer smile. And by gods what she could do with that mouth. Why did he break up with her again? Oh right, she was a annoying bitch. But he did love her eyes so he wrote -eyes- as he once again let his attention wonder off to the movie playing. Watching a big breasted blond do some very wicked things with her mouth, Wufei shifted in the couch and put down -lips- on his list.

Later when movie had ended, Wufei considered downloading another on, for scientific reasons of course nothing else.-Ehm- But he did want to finish the list before he had to leave for his fourth date with Duo. So he was just going to have to work with what he had written so far.

-Breasts, ass, blonds, feet, eyes and lips.

Right, now to find parallel things on the male body, or in this case, Duo. So, breasts were out for obvious reasons. Ass... Wufei really had no idea if Duo had a nice ass or not. Wufei confessed to himself that he really didn't know -how- a nice ass on a male should look. He had never really payed any attention to his own, much less anyone else's. But knowing Duo, he wouldn't be satisfied with having anything but a nice one.

So, on to the next one. Blonds. Wufei took a second to imagine Duo as a blond. A thought which made him snort. No, Duo wouldn't make a very good blond. Not to mention that it would take forever to color that big rope of hair that he had. That was also out. Next, feet. Duo had kind of big feet if he remembered correctly. Which he knew he did. It was not something he was going to forget considering that Duo's brother Solo had been making fun of Wufei's smaller feet at the time. But he also remembered that after Solo had left, Duo had put his own feet up next to his on the coffee table and compared them. Duo had said something about Wufei having great feet while he and Solo walked around with their clown feet unable to find any cool shoes in their size. Duo had really made his insecure teen years a lot easier in many ways...

Were big feet considered to be attractive on males? Well that didn't matter, this was about what -he- considered to be attractive, not others. And Wufei didn't like big feet. He liked smooth petite ones. Preferably with nail polish. So that was out to. Next where eyes. Well... Duo does have nice eyes. Big dark blue eyes that almost looks purple when the light hits them. They where nicely shaped with long eyelashes. Yes, he had very nice eyes.

After eyes came lips. Duo's lips weren't big and plum like he wanted them on women. But they where soft, and rough at the same time. They stretched thin when he smiles and they felt nice against his skin. He wondered what it would be like to kiss those lips. Would it be awkward or would it be the same as kissing a girl? The bristles would probably make a difference.

'So whats the result?' Wufei looked down at the pad. 'Well, there is eyes, lips and possibly a ass that works for me.' Wufei did a mental note to check out Duo's ass tonight. They where going bowling tonight so he would have plenty of opportunities to have a look. They had been on three dates this week and so far everything was going great.

Trowing the pad onto the table he laid down on the couch and stared at the ceiling.

Yesterday had been interesting. The two of them had been over to Wufei's sister Meilan, and Duo's brother Solo who just happened to be married to each other. The whole marriage thing where beyond strange. The two of them had hated each other for years before Solo for some strange reason asked her out. Asked her out a number of times in fact since Meilan kept punching him in the face every time he asked. It went on until Meilan broke his nose and didn't have the heart to hit him the next time he asked. They had been inseparable since.

So no, the irony had not been lost on Wufei as he had watched Solo played footsies with his normally reserved sister and Duo throw pies at him like a five year old with a crush. Solo Maxwell converted the man hating Meilan, and Duo Maxwell converted the straight Wufei. Or he was trying to anyway.

They had agreed not to tell anyone about Wufei's try for the other team. It was a bit to new and the theory really needed more work before it could be presented to an outsider.

The dinner had been nice. But Wufei had been a bit hurt to find out that Solo had been aware of Duo's sexuality for years and therefor Meilan had also known but had never told him. Logically he understood why no one told him, but it still hurt not to be included. Solo had joked about how funny it had been to watch Duo cope a feel on a oblivious Wufei during different baseball and football matches through the years. Duo had been embarrassed and Wufei had laughed with the rest of them. But he did feel a bit like he hadn't been trusted to know. And that hurt... a lot.

'No' he told himself. 'No more of this. I have to get ready for the date tonight.' Getting to his feet, he went to do just that.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

He supposed that it was a nice ass. For being a male ass that is.

"Wu... What are you doing?" Wufei's concentration moved to Duo's face from where it had been resting on his backside as the other man had been taking aim at the bowling pins.

"I'm trying to figure out if you have a nice ass."

Duo coughed as he seemed to choke on his own spit.

"W- What?"

"Well, I never thought about it before. And I'm trying to determine if it's nice or not."

"Aaand?" Duo dragged out with a leer.

"I don't know. I haven't decided yet."

"Haven't de-! I'll have you know that I have a great ass! My ass... the fact is, that I have a -excellent- ass. Let me tell you Mr I-haven't-decided-yet, that no one have ever complained about my ass. It's so tight you could bounce a quarter of it!"

Wufei didn't say a word. He just watched the shocked looking couple and their children at the bowling lane next to them. Duo followed his line of vision and his eyes went wide.

Wufei raised a eyebrow as Duo's face turned bright red. "You were saying?"

"I- I think I'm going to get us something to drink. Like right now. Coke good with you?"

Duo didn't wait for him to answer as he took of as fast as he could. Wufei watched him go. 'I think he's right, that is an excellent ass. It doesn't quite look like one out of my art books, but it's pretty close. Hmm, I wonder if I can get him to model for me some time. He would do very nicely on a oil painting. Yeah, a classic oil painting. It's been a while since I did one of those. Maybe I can get him to let his hair out. I could take him out on a field and paint him sitting among the straw with his hair blowing. Yes, that would be beautiful. Or I could take him somewhere close to a lake. Get the color of his eyes together with the water and-'

His thoughts where interrupted by Duo's return. Accepting the offered drink he leaned back and watched the other man (and his ass) as he took his turn at the bowling lane.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Wufei closed the front door. He took a couple of steeps only to stop and stared at himself in the hall mirror in shocked silence.

'He kissed me. On the lips... It wasn't all that bad. More like a peck then anything else. It was... nice' Taking his shoes of and dropping his jacket on the floor he stumbled over to the kitchen. All the while his mind were repeating the soft kiss over and over again. They had been talking and laughing when Duo suddenly had steeped closer with a smile on his lips. And then, after a brief hesitation, he had leaned down and kissed him. It had been nice. Very nice in fact. Poring himself a glass of orange juice he sat down at the table with a content sigh.

'The whole dating thing is going well. A hell of a lot better then some of the dates I have been on through the years. Not that I've been on a lot of them. Dating always seamed like such a hassle. That and all those rules. I was never any good at the dating rules. Let's see...Let the girl pick the movie...the question in this case is, who's the girl? Do gay people even have dating rules? We paid our own movie tickets on the first date. I paid the check on our second one. But that was more because I was talking Chinese with the waiter then being "the guy". Duo paid for the third one. But he knew the guy in the box office and got a discount. Does that still count? This part is a lot easier with a girl. Pay the tickets, open the doors, no kisses before the... wait... when do you get the kisses? Was it after the second or third date? Or was it the fourth? No, I think it was sex after the fourth an-... oh my gods. We just had our fourth date. What if gays have the same dating rules? Does Duo expect sex after this?! I don't know how to have sex with a man?!'

Leaving his untouched glass on the table he made a dash for his computer.

'I need to find out. I need more facts. Hell, all I know about gay sex comes from looker room jokes! ' Wufei thought as he started up his laptop.

He started searching and his eyes landed on a promising link.

'-Gay lifestyle-, yeah that sounds good. Right, let's see now... What the? O...my...god... that's some strange toys...I think I'm going to choose another link because that was just, -NO-. Let's see what this is... -ehm- that's a lot of leather. A -lot- of leather. I wonder if all gays are into that. Duo does own a pair of leather pants...oh holy shit!!! Did he just put his whole **fist** up... fist and **ARM**. Arghh! Holy shit! No! Gods! Ah! How the hell do I get this page down?!' Panic spread through his blood like ice as he slammed the laptop closed. But the man's painful screams could still be heard through the small speakers. In desperation to 'just make it stop' he ripped the laptops battery out and made it sailed across the room.

His heart was beating wildly and cold sweat were running down his back as he stared at his computer in horror. 'That can't be normal, right? It's not like they all do that. Right? Why would anyone want to put that- or -anything- up their...' Wufei suddenly felt like he was in -much- to deep. 'What the hell I'm I doing? What if Duo wants to do that, or on me? Or something else, or maybe-' cold shivers went down his spine and he suddenly felt like throwing up.'O gods, I can't do this, what the fuck am I doing, I'm not gay, I can't do this, I can't, I can't, I can't' He's head was spinning as he stumbled over to his bed and fell down on top of the covers. 'What am I going to do?'

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Duo was dragging himself over the door to kill whoever were on the other side, banging on it. Ripping the door open he was meet with the sight of a very haunted looking Wufei.

"Fei... it's four-thirty in the morning. What's going on?"

"Can I come in? I- I need to talk to you."

"Of course, come in." Duo steeped out of the way and let him in.

When there was no explanation coming from the distressed man. Duo signed.

"I am guessing that something freaked you out and you have now been up all night thinking about it. I'm going to take a wild guess and say it's the kiss that made-"

"No! Not that, it, I-I found, and if-, and I-." He sounded like he was going to start hyperventilating any second.

"Wu, calm down. Start from the top. What freaked you out?"

"I just- a-and then he-Why would he shove a fist up his rectum!"

Duo's eyes widened."Fist?..." Visions of Wufei walking around in a S&M club flashed before his eyes."Wu, where the hell have you been?!"

"Internet. I was trying to find-."

He was cut of by Duo's startled laugh.

"Oh god. This researching habit of yours is really taking you all over the place. He took a deep breath and looked straight into the twitching man's eyes as he spoke to him in a calming voice."Wu, seriously. It's not something everyone does. I've never done it. But I talked to a guy that had, and who had like it."

"But why would you even want to put **anything** up there?" Wufei burst out.

"Fei... It... Because it feels good and you... -God- I can't believe I am having this conversation with you." Duo rubbed his hands over his tired eyes with a sigh. "Come on let's sit down and I'll make you some tea." He put his hand on the other man's shoulder only to quickly snatch it away when he felt him cringe under his touch. 'Fuck! So it begins.' Duo walked a couple of steeps behind his friend into the kitchen and watched him drop down at the kitchen table. He swallowed thickly and turned his back to him, hiding his face with the excuse of boiling water.

'I should have known not to get my hopes up.' Duo rested his head against the kitchen cabins and closed his eyes in defeat. 'You can't change your sexuality. I have to talk to him before this gets out of hand. I won't take part in this anymore, not when it's hurting both of us. He's proven that he will do anything to help his friends. I should have known that I could have told him about me before. Wu never fails his friends, and he has -never- failed me. But he got to realize that this is not something that he can fix.' Duo took his time pouring the water and getting the tea bags. Stealing himself he turned around and carried the mugs over to his friend.

Wufei had his eyes glued to the table and didn't look up until Duo pushed a tea mug in his line of vision.

"Thank you" He gave a tired sigh as he wrapped his hands around it and some of the tension left his shoulders.

"Look, Wufei." That got his attention. Duo only called you by your name if something where wrong. "I know you feel obligated for this to work. But this has gone far enough. I know that you're my best friend. And that you even -tried- to do this for me means more then I can say. But no more. You can not change who you are. Any more then I can change who I am. I love you and I probably always will, but we're not meant to be lovers. Ok? So, friends?"

Wufei looking up at the sad smile on the face of his best friend that were holding his hand out to him. Wufei felt his heart twist.

"Yeah, Friends." He answered and took a hold of the offered hand.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N

If I wanted to make this as believable as possible, I would end it like this... Well, I don't know about you, but I'm addicted to happy endings and can't for my own sanity's sake leave it like this. So all of you that want to stay realistic can stop reading here. But the rest of us that wants the "..and they lived happily ever after. The end." will keep reading. When I have written the next part anyway :)

I would love it if you told me what you think of the story. I also want to know **what you think about Wufei?** Is he believable? He's giving me a bit of a hard time (he keeps mumbling about breasts, skirts and nail polish). What do you thing? Is he straight? Is he bi? Is he turning gay or is he just making a exception for Duo? Is that even possible? Opinions please.


	4. Chapter 4

Beware of jumping POW's and grammatic errors. You have been warned.

Chapter 4.

It took Duo a few seconds to figure out why his head was pounding and his throat hurt like it had been polish with sandpaper. Then last night came tumbling back into his memory. Right. Wufei. That's why everything hurts. Crying all night will do that to you. Wufei had broken up with him, or he had broken up with Wufei, or maybe it was more like they had broken up with each other. How ever it was, Duo felt like shit.

"God, why did I agree to all this in the first place?" He asked himself with a groan. But he already knew the answer 'because I would have given anything for it to work.'

The first thing he did was to call in sick. No way was he going to be able to do anything productive today at work. It was definitely time to feel sorry for yourself.

-

Duo managed to avoid the world and his best friend for two days before he finally answered the door. If possible, Wufei looked worse then he did. He had bags under his eyes and he looked like he hadn't slept in days. The Chinese man didn't say a word as he made his way over to the couch and sank down. Dragging his fingers through his dark messy hair he then looked over to Duo as he sat down next to him.

"Duo I don't know what to say. I- I'm sorry. I just thought, I could- you know. And I didn't mean to-. I just wanted to make you happy and I thought- I thought that it would work, because I love you, I was just not in love, and- and I mean- I thought, what's the difference, right? And then we started the dating thing and it was alright, and you know... And then I- I started thinking and- and, it all went to hell. But I didn't want to hurt you. I never meant to hurt you. Duo. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry Duo." By the time he finished he was breathing irregular and tears where running down those porcelain smooth checks. Every droop of them burned like fire in Duo's chest and he could tell feel his own eyes start to water. Taking the other man in his arms, he just about pulled him into his lap as he hugged him against his chest.

"Shhh, it's alright Wu. It's ok. Calm down, it's ok."

They sat together there while Wufei's painful breathes seemed to shred Duo soul in pieces.

'I knew this would happen. I knew he'd feel guilty. Damn, how do I fix this?' Duo thought franticly.

"Wu, just sit here for a while. I'll get us some coffee. Everything is alright, you have no reason to fell guilty."

Untangling himself from his friend he quickly made his way into the kitchen. Fumbling for his cell phone he pushed a number he knew by heart. 'Come on, come on, pick up!' Duo breathed out a sigh in relief when he heard Kevin answer.

"Kevin, I need huge favor. I need you to show up here -right now- and pick me up to for a date."

"What? Duo, I love you man, but I wouldn't date you even if-"

"No, I want you to pretend to date me. Wufei is here and he's all guilty and sad, and his breaking my heart. Come on man. Just show up, that's all I ask."

"Am I going to get another tooth knocked out? Because there is some things that you just don't do, even for you friends."

"No- no. It's all right. Please Kev, do this for me."

"Fine, I'll be there in five."

"Thank you. I so owe you."

Hanging up Duo took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

'Right, this is for the best. Strong independent man that's moving on from his childhood crush. Move along people, nothing to see here. No lovesick fools here, no sir.' Leaning the back of his head against the wall he fought to stop the tears that where threatening to fall.

A few minutes later Wufei's quiet steeps was heard as he walked in and leaned back next to him. And for just a second, Duo felt like everything was like it was supposed to be. Standing in silence next to his best friend like they had done thousands upon thousands of times before. But the moment passed as reality came crashing down with Wufei's next words. "I don't know how I'm going to make this up to you. I fucked up and I hurt you. I can't believe I hurt you like this... I can't even imagine how..." He trailed of.

"It's fine Wu, don't worry about it. I'll bounce back, I always do. This is not the first relationship that didn't work out for me. And it probably won't be the last one." He sighed and looked down on the floor. "Remember when I told you about Sean?"

"Your first boyfriend?"

"Yeah, I didn't tell you about when we broke up did I?" Wufei shock his head no.

"Well, it wasn't pretty. And if I can pick myself up after that, I think I can do the same now." He gave a sad smile.

"Duo..." He got cut of by the sound of knocking on the door.

"Sorry, I have to get that." He said as he forced himself to walk and not run like he wanted to. Opening the door, he was met by the sight of Kevin were he was leaning against the door frame. He was breathing to fast, like he had been running to get there. Duo felt like he had never been so happy to see anyone in his life and couldn't help but hug his friend. "Thank-you-thank-you-thank-you." he whispered against his ear.

Pulling away he looked over to the kitchen door way were Wufei where watching them.

'Here it goes, If I can just hold it together for a little bit longer. Everything will be alright.'

"Emm, I guess you two already meet, but without the introduction. Kevin, this is Chang Wufei, my best friend. And Wufei, this is Kevin Hall, he's... my date for the evening."

Wufei's eyes went wide and he seamed lost for words.

Kevin who where obviously uncomfortable with being there, turned to his date. "Emm, are you ready to go Duo?"

Kevin's voice seamed to snap Wufei back to himself. "Right, sorry. I'm just going to go. I'll see you later." He mumbled, and without another word he walked past them and out the door.

'Just a little longer, just a little bit longer' Duo thought to himself as he counted the time it should take the Chinese man to leave the building. 'A little bit longer, just a little more.'

"Are you alright?" Kevin asked with a hand on his shoulder.

"...no." He whispered before getting pulled into a comforting hug. And there he finally had the luxury to fall apart.

-

Sitting alone at the bar Duo stared down into his glass. Kevin had left for his real date a few hours ago. He had asked if he where going to be alright and Duo had just laughed and told him to enjoy his date. He hadn't moved since. Letting his drink splash from one side of the glass to the other he thought of the last few days.

'For a few days, I got to have -him-. It felt so good to give in. To love him the way that I always wanted to. It might not have been for to long and I feel like shit now, but it could have been much worse. Imagine what would have happened it we had ignored it, only to have Wufei freak later, like during sex. I would have been scarred for life... I'm grateful that he even tried to change for me. He's probably feeling guilty like hell for failing with his brilliant plan. But it wasn't his fault. I'm gay and he's straight and that's the way it's always going to be. And that's alright... hell, who am I kidding. I just might kill myself the day he finds a girl and settles down. Or worse, I'm going to be his children's favorite uncle who watches them when their parents wants some time alone... fuck, I need another drink.'

-

In another part of town the object of his thoughts where lying in bed and staring at the ceiling.

'Damn it, I can't sleep. I keep seeing that guy in front of me. ...Evey time I close my eyes I see that guy on top of Duo. Holding him down. Kissing him. Touching him... Am I jealous? No, I can't be. The theory didn't work. But it doesn't matter, because Duo has moved on... Only two days after we broke up. Broke up? Where we even together? Yeah, I think so... It would have been funny to bring Duo along to my parents and present him as my boyfriend. Meilan would have swallowed her tongue at the thought of her brother being gay, especially with her husbands little brother. And my mother would have laughed her ass of at the irony. Dad would... I don't know what he would have done. I guess I'll never know now because Duo is with -Kevin- now. Never know I was that easy to get over.'

Turning over he beat his pillow down.

'He better treat him good or I'll kill him.'

-

'Kevin made me his pity project for hours today. It was a nice thought, but someone that has just fallen in love really should -not- try to cheer up someone who's heart is breaking. Because it just makes them feel worse. I kept up a happy face until I managed to convince him that I was fine, so he would leave me alone. When you feel like this, you really need some time alone and the chance to cry your eyes out without someone patting you on the back with a 'there, there, times heals all wounds.' and all that bull. You feel like shit. You're going to feel like shit for a long time. And no good advise or comforting words are going to change that... I wonder how Fei is doing... I wonder what he's doing and- no, no ,no stop thinking about him, stop, just stop, stop, stop.'

-

Wufei was drunk and he knew it. He also knew that it was a bad sign that he was drinking alone at home, in front of a black TV screen. But considering how angry and... sad he was at the moment, he really could not care less. He didn't know why he was feeling like this. If it was because he was disappointed that their relationship hadn't worked out, or if it was because he had been dismissed so easily that his pride was injured. Duo had moved on. And wasn't that just a kick in the crotch.

He had seen them together today. Damn, he wised that he hadn't.

There where just one store that he knew had the spices that he needed for dinner. Unfortunately that store were just around the block from Duo's apartment. He never made it over to where the spices were because he saw -them- standing among the shelves. The lump had wrapped his arm across Duo's shoulders who were laughing at something. Wufei had turned on his heel and left. To hell with the spices. After a quick stop at liquor store, he made his way home, locked the door and started drinking.

He was sad, angry, confused and drunk. And to make matters worse, he was horny. 'God-fucking-damn-it!' Wufei looked down at his lap.

'I'm not in the mood for this. Fuck. Let's just get this over with.' Getting his fly open he shoved his pants and boxers down. 'Sara from the gym. Sara with the C-cups and ass you just want to... Ahhh, yes... and lets not forget that mouth. Mmm, that mouth is bound to know to know a thing or two.'

Thoughts about skillful mouths turned to wicked tongues that turned to one of his favorite fascinations, tongues piercings. Dani, his ex-girlfriend from high school had one of those.

'Damn it was fun to chase that one around her mouth. To bad I never got the chance to try it out on my lower regions. That must feel fantastic. Yesss, a metal stud that pressed in all the good places mmm... Duo's tongue is pierced. Damn. His asshole boyfriend had probably enjoyed it. I wondered if Duo practice fellatio. I wondered if he was any good at it. Mmmm, probably, ahh, yeah, he was probably a big success with that tongue stud not to mention all that hair you could grab a hold of.' Wufei almost didn't realize that he had started up a steady rhythm while he was thinking. Or maybe he just didn't want to admit it. What ever it was, he blamed the alcohol as the thought made his spine tingle and his legs twitch as he tightened his fist. He closed his eyes and envisioned Duo on his knees. His hair spilling out over his back and over Wufei's naked thighs as that pierced tongue moved along- aaahh yesssss. The vision of Duo's eyes glittering wickedly as he looked up at Wufei pushed him over the edge.

------

It would be -very- nice of you if you took the time to review. I'm a bit insecure about this chapter and I would be very happy if you told me what you think.

I will put the more adult version on adultfanfiction . net


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

It was a quiet morning in the deep forest. The sun was slowly rising and it's beams were glittering in the dew. Birds was singing and building their nests high up in the tree tops. A deer stooped to drink water out of a poring stream while a fluffy brown rabbit was munching on a dandelion at the edge of the deserted dirt road. Suddenly the rabbit sharpened it's ears. It's body tensed as it listed. Far in the distance you could hear a deep rumbling noise that was coming closer and closer. The deer grow restless and leaped over the stream and ran a fast as it could further into the woods. The rabbit dived into it's hole and pressed itself to the ground as the noise grow louder. The forest seemed to hold it's breath as suddenly, like from out of nowhere... a old Ford Sierra came roaring down the muddy forest road. The rumble from the engine was almost drowned out by the booming sound of the stereo.

Life was good. Wufei was sitting in the back of the old (but strangely comfortable) car, with two of his best friends up front, singing out of tune to German heavy metal. They were driving far to fast on the bumpy forest road and the wipers were working hard to keep the flying mud of the windshield (but that might have more to do with David's reckless driving then the actual state of the road). Duo was sprawled all over the passenger seat and was involved in a rather violent air drum solo to the loud music.

It didn't get much better then this Wufei reasoned. No work, no responsibilities, no neglected girlfriends. Just his childhood friends, a bag of jelly worms and heavy metal. And not just any heavy metal. -Rammstein-. It was just something about singing "Du! Du hast! Du hast mich!!!" on the top of your lungs that made you feel good. Not to mention very masculine. Singing along was a bit of a challenge since non of them spoke German, but they all agreed that German was THE language for heavy metal, death metal, industrial metal and all other types of aggressive music. It was just something raw and brutal about it. Like you could beat someone up with the words alone. You sang (or screamed, depending on how you looked at it) as loud as you could in a deep and aggressive voice. What you were singing about didn't matter, it was all about the anger.

David, who's mother came from Austria, had learned enough to understand the basics. But Wufei was actually quite happy that he couldn't understand anything of what they were singing. David had translated a piece of a Rammstein song once and it was just something about masturbating elephants that Wufei could not take seriously. Thank god that he had chosen to study French instead... not that he understood that much of that language ether. He knew enough to introduce himself and ask someone where he could buy dog food. It goes without saying that he had no wish to visit France. No, German was the shit. Or at least the German music was.

Wufei laughed along with his friends when they all stumbled over the pronunciation of "gefährlich" (what ever the hell that meant). It felt good to just relax with his friends. After the... "incident" with Duo, he had more or less isolated himself in his studio and painted until he collapsed. He might have gotten some pretty good paintings out of it, but he hadn't felt any better. The old feeling of a incoming depression had been luring in the back of his head the entire time. The drunken masturbation session had certainly not made him feel any better. He really wasn't so naive to believe that one drunken jerk of fantasy was enough to make him gay. It might make him slightly twisted, but not gay enough to have a relationship with a man. It kept coming back to 'the fist incident' as he had started to call it. Everything had been going just fine up until that point. The dating had been good. He hadn't been uncomfortable when Duo touched him. He hadn't been aroused by it ether, but that was not the point. Duo's kisses was something he had enjoyed and he really thought that it was something he could handle. The biggest problem was the sex. That's what it all came down to. Could he have sex with Duo?

One part of him just screamed 'NO!' when ever he thought about it. That, not only was Duo a male, he was also like a brother to him. But there were still one piece of him, that were whispering from the back of his mind, that he could do it. That it wouldn't be such a big difference from having sex with a woman. That it would work, even though it was Duo. No. Because it was Duo. He had reasoned with himself that it certainly would not be like with a woman. The lack of female equipment being on top of the list. And then he was back where he started.

All these thoughts had just made things worse as they had left him feeling empty and confused. The whole thing had in the end almost sent him over the edge. Wufei really did not want to go back to taking the pills. He had been fine on his own for over six years now and the thought of having to start taking them again was awful. Especially when they at times made his hands shake so bad that he couldn't paint. Not to mention that they made him impotent and fat. So no, going back to the pills was out of the question.

Once again it was thanks to Duo that he was feeling... not fine but better. His friend had more or less dragged him out of his studio and forced him to interact with the rest of the world. Duo had even called up their mutual friend David who lived a few miles away and arranged for all of them to go hiking. They used to do it all the time during high school. But with David working and Duo and himself off to collage, they never had the chance nor the time to take any longer trips. But now they were on their way.

Looking outside the window there were only trees, trees and more trees. Nothing but trees as far as the eye could see. They had been driving for almost an hour now and for the last forty-five minutes they had not seen any trace of human life. It was like a whole different world from the city. The road was bumpy and since it had rained the day before, covered in muddy potholes. But today, the sky was free of dark clouds and the Weather channel had promised sun. Wufei was looking forward to getting his backpack on and heading out into the woods. Especially since they had (for once) left on time. The sun had not even been up when they left. David was and would always be the weakest link in the time schedule. And since he was the only one with a car that kind of made things difficult. It had been Duo's brilliant idea to bribe David's girlfriend to use what ever force necessary to get him out of bed and into the car. It had worked like a charm. They hadn't asked how she had done it, but the big smile and the whistling from David at four a clock in the morning kind of gave it away. If they had only had that option in high school. Then they might not have been late so often. Wufei didn't have a drivers license while Simon and Duo couldn't afford a car. And seriously, who wanted to take the bus?

Wufei tried to slid down a bit in his seat. It was a bit crowded since he was sitting behind David's seat. The guy really had freakishly long legs. Duo didn't have his seat as far back, but if he sat there he couldn't see Duo when he was talking to him. He shoved one of the backpacks away as it began to slid towards him. There was almost no room in the trunk so they had to put most of the stuff in the backseat. Why didn't David get a new car? He had been driving this scrapheap since high school. One would think that when you got a job, one of the first things you would invest in would be a new car. But no, not David. He loved his old Ford Sierra with it's plastic dashboard and it's worthless fan system that never worked when you really needed them. And if it did work, it would sooner or later make steam roll out from under the hood in a very dramatic way. It was a piece of shit car and everyone knew it. Even David knew it... not that he would ever admit it. But that's David for you. Always the sucker for the underdog. It didn't matter if it was his three legged dog, his quiet and nerdy looking girlfriend or his worthless car.

But on the other hand. Things were never what they seamed to be with David. The dog was one hell of a vicious guard dog, the girlfriend apparently was an animal in the sack and the weak looking Ford did in fact have one hell of a engine. Even David himself was a bit of a mystery. He had perfected the slacker look over the years. His hair was just a little bit to long, his clothes a bit to big and his chin was always covered in bristles. People had always treated him like he was a loser without ambition and David didn't do much to prove them wrong. Except starting up a world famous web service that made millions a year. But the guy still drove a rusty Ford Sierra hatchback. Yeah, that's David. 'At leased the sound systems good' the chines boy thought with a smile.

Wufei cheered around a mouthful of jelly worms as a new song started up which set Duo of into another vicious air drum performance. David did the keyboard riffs against the steering wheel and Wufei took care of the airguitar. It was a sight to behold. When the song was over, Duo turned around in his seat. "Wu! Stop hugging the worms" he exclaimed as he caught a sight of the big colorful bag in the Chinese man's lap. Wufei only answer was to slowly suck a long pink worm into his mouth with a loud smack. Duo pouted. "Cock tease."

Wufei eyes went wide as he almost choked on the half chewed candy. Duo who realize what he had just said, and -who- he had said it to, blushed and suddenly became very occupied with reorganizing the shopping bag on the floor between his legs.

Wufei didn't knew what to say. They hadn't talked about their brief relationship-dating-thing. Instead the both of them had more or less ignored that it had ever happened. They had just gone back to being friends. Best friends. It was just a bit strained every now and then. 'Like right now' Wufei thought as he looked over at Duo's rigid shape in the front seat. It was like they didn't know where they stood with each other. Didn't know how to act or what to say. Something was wrong, but Wufei didn't know what it was or how to fix it. But the thing was that he could not bring himself to regret his "trip to the other side" as he liked to call it. They had some fun times too and it had been... interesting to get to know Duo on a whole new level. Like a boyfriend. And maybe even like a lover. But that didn't mean that he didn't hate this -thing- that had settled between them.

"Ow!" Duo yelled loudly and shoved a finger into his mouth.

"What?" David said as he turned of the stereo and started to slow down. "What happened?"

Duo mumbled "I broke a nail" around his finger.

David rolled his eyes and steeped on the accelerator again. There was a snort from the backseat.

"I think that was the gayest thing I have ever heard you say."

There was a moment of total silence. Duo turned around and looked at Wufei who had a 'holy-shit-I-can't-believe-I just-said-that-I-hope-I-didn't-piss-him-of-enough-to-kill-me' expression on his face. For a few seconds they just stared at each other in silence, until Duo snickered in amusement. Wufei tightened his lips as his shoulders started to shake in silent laughter.

Duo on the other hand couldn't hold it back and started to laugh hysterically which immediately set Wufei of until they both where gasping for breath.

"Okay, I'm missing something." David said as looked from Duo's twitching figure to the rear-view mirror with Wufei who had tears running down his face.

Duo patted David's shoulder. "It's a long story. I'll tell you later man. Ok?"

"Yeah right, what ever. I don't think the story is that long since I already know that the two of you are out of your minds."

"Well, at least we're not alone, right Wu?" Smiling blue eyes looked over the edge of the seat.

Wufei smiled. "Nope, Shinagami and the Dragon will rule the world."

"Oh-my-god!" Duo exclaimed. "I had almost forgotten all about that. How old were we when we came up with that?"

"And once again I'm out of the loop." David interrupted in singsong voice."What are you two talking about?"

Wufei answered with a laugh. "We were like eight or something and we started up this club where we were planning on taking over the world. Duo's secret club name was Shinagami and mine was Dragon. We had secret languages, handshakes, passwords and even a "secret" club house in the backyard."

"I loved that club house, I wonder if it's still standing. Damn, those where the days. We had so much fun back then. Not to mention all the trouble we got into. We were a couple of real terrorists weren't we Fei?"

"Oh hell yes. Or at leased my sister thought so."

"Oh! Remember that time we tried to steal her panties?"

The Chinese man snickered. "How could I forget? She's still pissed about it."

Duo laughed as he climbed over the seat and in next to Wufei in the back. He pushed the hiking equipment around a bit as he made himself comfortable and reached over to grabbed a couple of jelly worms from the bag.

"Well, how were we supposed to know that she was storing her sex toys among her underwear?"

"Yeah, well I didn't even want to know that she had any."

"Too true." Duo snickered and sucked a pink jelly worm into his mouth with a loud smack. The action set them both of into hysteria again. David just rolled his eyes as he watched his laughing friends in the rear-view mirror.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Damn, that one was hard to wright. How did you think it turned out? Am I moving too fast/too slow? Is Duo and Wufei's relationship beliveable? What did you think about the presentation of David the OC? And isn't Rammstein the greatest? ;) So many questions.

Well, I have no clear plan for what's going to happen next so I'm very open for suggestions. What do YOU think should happen next? Should I skip the hiking or should I let them walk? Should I let the rain fall or make Wufei forget his sleepingbag (I'm sure that Duo would let him share his sleepingbag). The possibilitys are endless.

A -big- thanks to Aniratac who read through this even thou she didn't have the time. Many, many hugs for you honey.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

David took a deep breath of the fresh forest air. 'God, it was good to get out of the car. I can't believe it almost took us two hours to get here! Damn, it was ages ago since the last time we went hiking. Adult life kind of sneaked up on us,' David thought as he stretched out the stiff muscles in his back. Ignoring his two friends, who were once again laughing over god knows what, he spread the map out over the hood of the car.

'Let's see... We haven't been to this part of the forest before. A lot more mountain paths then we're used to. That should probably be fun. It's going to be tough, since we're all a bit out of shape. It's been far too long since we did this.' David glanced up at his friends, who seemed to be fighting over the last jelly worm.

I admit that I was a bit worried when Duo called. Not by the phone call itself, but by Duo's reaction when I said that I didn't have time. That "maybe we could go hiking in a few weeks or maybe even the next month?" Duo hadn't said it straight out, but he _had_ said that Wufei had been stuck in his studio for too long, and needed some air. This, in translation, meant 'I'm worried out of my mind, and I need help getting Wufei back on track!'

We all knew that Wufei had a rough time every now and then. It's not really a secret. But as far as I knew, Wufei had been doing fine for years, and before that, Duo was always able to pull him through... I wonder what could have set him off? I thought about asking Duo, but that was before I saw them interact with each other. Or should I say _not_ interact with each other? Whatever it was that had put Wufei down, Duo had had something to do with it. I've never seen them like that, not towards each other, anyway. They have always been more or less attached at the hip. Where one went, the other followed. I mean, for god's sake, if they spent any longer time together they would end up finishing each other's sentences. How the -hell- those two made it through college without each other is a mystery. As far as I knew, they had never been angry, or even reserved or distant towards each other since they where like five years old, or something! They have always been inseparable.

But this morning when I picked them up... it was like they where avoiding each other, even though they were only standing a few feet apart. They hardly looked at one another! It didn't seem like they had been in a fight and were angry with each other. The feeling was more... awkward, than anything else. They had relaxed at bit when we got the music and the candy flowing, but there was still something missing. They weren't throwing insults, or swapping memories and inside jokes like they usually do. They had like this tension between them. Like a glass wall, or something. Shit, listen to me, Mr.-Deep-Thinker, contemplating his friends' feelings and glass walls! Yeah, whatever. Bottom line was that something was wrong, and they were pretending that everything was fine.

But then there was that -thing- in the car, when they started to laugh hysterically over god knows what. Something about Duo being a sissy over his broken nail. I didn't get it, but on the other hand, those two have so many inside jokes that it's a wonder you can understand them at all! After that, they went back to normal, and all that tension just disappeared. It's not like I'm surprised. The world will stop turning before the two of them stop being friends. My guess is that Duo said something that made Wufei relapse into that depression shit. Duo does have the ability to speak before he thinks, but, on the other hand, Wufei had never held that against him before. What ever it was it had to be pretty big to have them acting like that.

Well, I'm not one to stick my nose into other people's business. If they want to tell me what was up, they will. Duo did say something about 'explain later', he just didn't say how much later. Never mind. It's time to get this show on the road.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

David shouldered his backpack and turned back to his friends, who were once again picking on each other.

"Hey, are you two ladies ready to go?"

"Yeah, just let me adjust the straps on this thing," Wufei said, and gesticulated towards his backpack on the ground.

Wufei had been looking forward to this hike. He had even gotten himself a new backpack. Not that there had been anything wrong with the old one, but it did look like the bag version of Frankenstein's monster, because of all the repairs done on it. The new one had cost him a small fortune, but it was worth it. Ergonomically shaped, with weight reliving strays all over. It was the god of backpacks. Now, if he could just figure out how he should adjust it…

Behind his back, Duo nudged David on the arm with a wink, before nonchalantly asking, "Hey Wu, did you bring the matches this time?" Wufei glared at his two friends, who started laughing.

"I only did that once! Shit, you guys are never going to let me live that down, are you?"

David slapped him on the back. "Of course not. We have to get our revenge out somehow."

"Yeah, cold beans, cold soup, no coffee. You're lucky to be alive, 'Fei!" Duo laughed, and ruffled the shorter man's hair.

Wufei slapped the hand away, and ran his fingers through his long hair to get it out of his eyes.

"Fuck off. You could have brought some too!"

Duo snickered. "Yeah, but you were the one responsible for the food."

Wufei grumbled in faked annoyance, but in reality he was relived to have his friend back to normal. He couldn't stand any more of that stained feeling that had been between them. Not having Duo in his life was unacceptable. He once again found himself wondering if it had been worth it.

Yes, it was. Dating Duo had been fun, and he was probably going to miss the closeness they had shared. He really wished that things had ended up differently... But no, this was now. This was real, and this was good. No reason to dwell on the past. He hitched his backpack up and closed all the buckles. He was ready to go.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The three friends had been walking for several hours now. They hadn't met any other hikers, only a couple of foxes, and seen the shape of what had probably been a deer. The air was cool and fresh, and it made you want to just stop and breathe. The forest they were walking through was healthy and thick, filled with ferns, thick green moss and young trees. It was a bit cloudy now, which was a blessing because it had been far too hot to walk with the sun on their backs. The track was steadily leaning upwards, and had more and more big rocks sticking out of it, which indicated that they were getting closer to the mountain path. The dirt track was narrow, dotted with rocks. Every now and then, they would encounter a patch of loose pebbles and dust, making them fight for purchase on the treacherously ground. The low hanging branches kept slapping Davis and Duo in the face while Wufei walked under them with a smirk.

David, who was walking up front, suddenly stopped abruptly, almost making Wufei bump into him. Duo, on the other hand, who hadn't been paying attention, walked straight into the smaller man. The motion made both of them lose their footing, and they ended up in a heap on the narrow path. Swearing loudly, Wufei managed to get to his feet and tried to help his friend, who was lying like an overturned turtle on his back.

"What the fuck, David! Give a guy some warning before you do that!" Duo exclaimed, as he struggled his way up again. But David didn't pay him any mind as he said, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't it just start to rain?"

Both his friends froze before raising their heads towards the sky.

A drop of water hit Duo on the forehead. "No way! It was supposed to be sunny all weekend."

David shook his head. "Well, it's not. Come on, we have to find somewhere to put the tent up."

The rain started out as just a drizzle, but it was soon turning into a pure downpour. The surrounding ground was too steep to put the tent up, and they were getting desperate. Water was pouring down the hill, turning their path into a shallow stream. The mud was either making their boots stick to the ground, or making them slip. Duo took a hold of Wufei's arm, and helped him up from where he had fallen to his knees in the sticky, brown mess. Giving a quick thanks and a smile to his friend, who was starting to resemble a drowned cat, Wufei wiped the rain water out of his eyes and started walking again. It felt like they had been walking in the rain forever. Like they were never going to find a flat area. Like they were stuck in a strange nightmare, or maybe a Stephen King novel. It certainly was a fitting scenario, with the heavy rain that was beating down on them. But then David suddenly stopped again. Only this time, no one was even close to walking into each other. They were walking far to slowly for that. "There!" he exclaimed, and pointed at a small glade a few meters into the woods. "We're saved! Come on, let's get the tent up.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

'Now, this is going to take a while,' Wufei thought, as he stood in the pouring rain with mud up to his ankles, a couple of tent pegs in one hand, and the other hand holding the edge of the outer canvas up as high as he could. He and David were trying to use the waterproof outer tent as an umbrella to the lighter inner tent, to make sure it stayed as dry as possible. Duo was crawling around, trying to fasten all of the inner tent's pegs into the wet ground. Water was gathering in the middle of their temporary roof, and Wufei could feel his arm start to cramp. 'Shit, I need my other hand. I'm going to have to drop the pegs into the mud,' he thought. 'It's going to be hell to find them later.' The metal pegs landed with a splash into the brown sludge by Wufei's feet, as he did his best to hold the cover up over the inner tent.

"Right, just a little more!" Duo shouted over sound of the rain. "There, that was the last one. Put it on."

Maneuvering the canvas around, they set out to insert the stakes and set up the guy ropes. This was a task that was complicated enough on a good day, but in the pouring rain, with wet mud, tree roots and rocks all over the place, it was almost impossible. Wufei couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing, especially when Duo stumbled on a tent peg that he had put there himself just seconds ago, and ended up on his ass in the mud. The braided man grinned like a loon, and stuck his tongue out in response to Wufei's laughter. It felt like an eternity, but they finally managed to get the tent to stand somewhat straight and stable. They had lost several pegs, but none of them could find it in themselves to care. Getting their bags from underneath a spruce, they crawled into the tent. Shivering, they all hurried to get their soaking wet clothes off and get into some dry ones.

"Shit!" Wufei suddenly exclaimed in horror, and started ripping everything out of his backpack. His friends stared at him in wonder.

Duo was the first to voice his concern. "What?"

"I don't believe this! The fucking backpack isn't waterproof!" The Asian man groaned in despair as his hand found what he had been most afraid of to find.

"Are you serious?" David asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I can pretty much wrench water out of my god damned sleeping bag!" Wufei replied, as he pulled out said sleeping bag.

"No way." Duo stretched out to feel the material.

"Tough luck buddy. Never trust the new shit," David said, and patted his ancient looking backpack lovingly.

Wufei groaned again as he examined the dripping bag. It was soaking wet. There was no way he could sleep in it. He managed to resist the urge to throw it out of the tent.

"You can share with me... if you want," a nervous looking Duo said, and looked down on his hair. He had released it from the braid, and was now trying to dry it as much as he could with a small towel.

Wufei stiffed briefly at the thought of lying so close to his gay friend. But then he mentally slapped himself. What the fuck was he thinking? This wasn't his gay friend. This was his -best- friend. He was being ridiculous. 'No wonder Duo put a stop to it if I can't even lie next to him.'

"Yeah, thanks," he said, trying not to sound as uncomfortable as he felt. With a quick search through the bottom of his bag, he managed to find a pair of dry jeans and an only slightly damp t-shirt. As he changed, he watched Duo climb into his- no, their sleeping bag. 'God, this is going to awkward,' the Chinese man thought. He crawled on all fours over to his friend and climbed in.

Wufei had been right, because what followed could only be described as awkward. Very awkward. Both of them were twisting around, trying not to touch each other in the tight bag. Legs and arms were snatched away every time they brushed against each other.

"Comfortable, Chang?" David said with a snicker, as he watched his two friends find a somewhat good sleeping arrangement as far away from each other as possible in the limited space.

"Yes, thank you David. How nice of you to ask," Wufei said with glare over his shoulder, before turning back to his twitching friend. "Duo, for god's sake be still. Fuck this. Lie on your side turned toward me. I'm not sleeping with your wet hair in my face... Good, now put your right arm up so I can slide in... good. Move your left leg over my right one. Good."

"Is there anything else I can do for you, General Chang?"

Wufei looked up, and into Duo's amused face. "Ha-ha. Yeah, you can take your watch off because it's digging into my side."

"Oops," the long haired man said, and smiled sheepishly as he did as he was told.

Wufei was fully aware that this night was going to be hell for the both of them. He decided that the only way that he was going to get some sleep was if he ignored that their groins were lined up, and that they were practically lying on top of each other. He couldn't even imagine how awkward Duo must be feeling. David, on the other hand had no problems whatsoever, and was asleep after just a few seconds, which he made very obvious.

Duo sighed. "I think I repressed the memory of this part of the hiking. Trying to sleep with David's snoring as a soundtrack."

Wufei snickered. "Yeah, me too. Did we ever find out a way to make him stop?"

"I think kicking him worked for a while."

"Maybe we should try... we might be able to fall asleep before he starts up again."

Duo smiled down at him. "We can try... you're closest."

"How did I know you were going to say that? Lazy bastard," Wufei mumbled and un-zipped the bag enough to get his leg out. A sock covered foot connected with their sleeping friend's legs. Without result.

"Try again," Duo urged.

Wufei kicked again, a bit harder this time. David mumbled something undecipherable and rolled over on to his stomach. The snoring stopped.

The taller man grinned. "Wicked! It worked."

"Shh, quiet, you'll end up waking him."

"Right... it looks like he's going to slip off his mattress," Duo said as he peered over the edge of his friend's t-shirt covered shoulder.

Wufei snorted in a way that clearly stated that he couldn't care less. "He'll be fine. Now let's go to sleep before he starts up again."

Wufei zipped up the sleeping bag again, and tried to make himself comfortable. But sleep refused to come. Instead he found himself staring at Duo's t-shirt covered chest in front of him.

"Since when are you a hockey fan?" He found himself asking.

"What?"

Wufei poked him in the ribs and Duo looked down on the NHL logo on his chest.

"Oh, it's not mine. It's Kevin's."

"Oh." There was a moment of strained silence before the shorter man cleared his throat, and asked what he had wanted to know since he had first seen the two of them together on Duo's couch. "So, when did you meet?"

"Kevin? Ages ago. We used to play football together when we were like ten or something."

"So how did you...?" Wufei trailed of but Duo could guess what it was he was asking for.

"Well, we weren't really friends at first, but we meet on this website for gay men a few years ago, and started talking. He kind of looked me up when he came back to town for the summer... It's just nice not to be the only gay guy in town."

Wufei frowned. "There can't be just two of you in the entire town. That's statistically impossible, you can't-."

Duo cut him of with a punch to his shoulder.

"Fucking geek. You are not turning this into a math problem. I'm kicking you out of this bag if you even think about finishing that sentence."

Wufei just rolled his eyes. "I'm just saying that research findings state that 10 of all humans are ether homosexual or bisexual. So, out of the seven thousand people in and around town, there should be at least seven hundred that are gay. And the research I've read showed that there are not as many lesbians as gay men. So if we assume that 50 out of seven thousand are females, there should be at leas-"

"Stop, for god sakes stop!" Duo begged and slapped a hand over his eyes.

"What? It's very logical. Out of seven hundred gay people, there should be about 30-"

"That's it. I'm kicking you out. You can sleep out in the cold." Duo did a big show out of making a grab for the zipper.

"Fine, whatever. I'm quiet." Wufei rolled his eyes again. "...So there you were, the only two gay people out of seven thousand..."

Duo punched him again. "Shut up. The only two that I know of. Okay?"

"Okay."

"So, we were the only two gay men -that I knew of- in town, and we started seeing each other about once a week."

"Seeing, as in -seeing-?"

"No, we're just friends."

"..."

Duo looked embarrassed and scratched his bristle covered chin. "Yeah well, with the exception of that time... It was no big deal. I was just lonely and a bit drunk. It's called pity-fuck for a reason, you know."

"But you're dating now."

Duo looked away and refused to meet his eyes. "... not really."

That gave Wufei a bit of a startle. He admitted that he hadn't been all that attentive or even supportive of his friend's relationship, but he had gotten the impression that they were doing fine together. "...you're not?"

Duo still refused to look at him as he nervously moved pieces of hair away from his face. "No, we're just friends..."

"Oh..."

They went quiet after that. The rain was still falling and David's snores were beginning to start up again.

"Duo...Why didn't you tell me you were gay?" Wufei almost flinched at the sound of his own voice. Could he possibly sound more like a needy loser? He knew he shouldn't have asked, the question would only rip up old wounds. But he couldn't help himself. He wanted to know. Why? Why? Why? The question had been going round and round in his head since the second Duo had told him that he was gay. Why hadn't Duo told him? Was it something he had done? Didn't he trust him? Could he have done something differently? Had they drifted apart that much? If he hadn't walked in on him and Kevin, would Wufei ever have found out the truth? Why? He wanted to know. He needed to know.

Duo took a deep breath. "I-" He started, only to cut himself off. Wufei decided that he really shouldn't pressure his friend any more then he already had, so he stayed quiet. 'He probably needs to think it through,' he thought, and resisted the urge to yawn.

The sleeping bag was warm, and the air mattress was surprisingly comfortable. Despite the tense atmosphere, Wufei found himself drifting off. The light rain hitting the tent was almost hypnotic; it felt like a strange sort of lullaby. Drip, drip, drip. They were breathing in sync. In and out, in and out. Slow, even breaths. Slow. So slow. Wufei spared a stray thought that it was a good thing that he was a bit shorter. None of them had brushed their teeth... and breathing into each other's faces wouldn't be all that... fresh. He could feel the texture of Duo's t-shirt against his forehead. It was old, worn and soft against his skin. Wufei yawned. There was no reason to move. He was so tired. All that walking, then the rain and the stress. Then the bag... Wufei shifted his arm around a bit, so he wouldn't stop the blood flow to it. His fingers were brushing against the soft skin on the inside of Duo's elbow. Smooth skin. This was a nice sleeping bag. Warm and soft. It even smelled nice. Way better then his own. The one in the worthless 'waterproof' bag. Like a sponge. Wasn't supposed to rain. But it did. It does. Rain. Nice with rain. Sounds nice. Against the tent. Rain...

Wufei was sleeping. No, just drifting. Or was he sleeping? It was hard to tell. Someone was whispering. Something. Lips were moving against his hair. Soft spoken sounds drifting by. Sounds that became words, that became sentences with a meaning. A meaning that obviously was not meant to be heard.

"-and then I finally could admit it to myself... I thought I was over you. I really did... But then I saw you again. You were so beautiful, and I just knew that I would never be over you." The whispers trailed off, and the rain and David's snores that had started up once again, were soon the only things that could be heard. Wufei didn't know if he should announce his waken state or not. But if he did, Duo would be embarrassed. He obviously had something that he wanted to say, even if no-one was listening. No, because no one was listening. He should say something. Pretend that he was just waking up or something. But he was selfish. He wanted to hear what Duo had to say, what he obviously would never tell him to his face. So he stayed quiet, and hoped that he would find out the answer to 'why'. Silence dragged on. Wufei had almost drifted off again when Duo's low words were once again spoken into his hair.

"At first I was grateful to you for trying. That I meant so much to you, that you would try to-... to change for me." He swallowed thickly before he once again started to whisper, but this time the sound was harsher. Broken. Almost bitter. "But then I started to hate you. That you dared to lead me on. Let me feel all those things that I had kept locked up for years. You let me hold you. Kiss you. Love you like I always wanted. Let me think that it could work out. Make hope grow and grow until it was all I could think about. All I dreamed about. Every second of every -fucking- day I thought about you. About us..." Duo was now breathing deeply into his hair and something wet landed on Wufei's temple. Tears. The knowledge spread like ice through his body and Wufei was now wide awake. He didn't want to know this. He didn't want this to be real. He didn't want Duo to sound so lost and broken. Didn't want to know that he was the cause of it.

"Only to have reality rubbed in my face. That you were never mine. That I could never have you. That you would never love me like I wanted you to. That hurt." He gave a low, hollow laugh, before hissing out words in a harsh, resentful voice that Wufei never thought could come out his otherwise cheerful friend. Wufei had to stop himself from wriggling at the sound. "I have no words for how much that hurt. Nothing has ever hurt that much. Realizing that you were straight and would never look at me like you looked at some random girl on the street didn't hurt that much. Watching you make out with Sara Gibbons when you two got together didn't hurt that much. Nether did being forced to listen to your moans through the wall as you lost your virginity to Jenny -fucking- Davis. Hell, walking in on Sean having sex with our next door neighbor in our bed didn't even come close to how that made me feel." Duo stopped, and all was quiet again with the exception of the raindrops hitting the tent and David's even snores. The tear on Wufei's temple was slowly, oh so slowly trickling down over his face. Over the soft skin beneath his eye, following the line of his nose down towards his lips. Its wet trail burned like fire.

He felt Duo take a deep breath before once again whispering the truth into Wufei's hair.

"It didn't take long before I realized that I was lying to myself... I could never hate you. I could hate the situation. I could hate the way I felt. I could hate just about everything... I could hate myself, but not you. Never you..." The whispers became even lower, like he was telling a forbidden secret, and Wufei had to strain his hearing to make out the words. "I knew it wouldn't work. I knew it from the beginning. I just ignored it. I shouldn't have agreed. It's all my fault. You were just trying to help, and I let you believe that you could. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for this tension between us. I'm sorry for making you feel so bad that you had to isolate yourself in your studio. I'm sorry for almost destroying our friendship. I'm sorry for not telling you sooner. I should have trusted you. I shouldn't have been such a coward. I tried to tell you so many times. I tried. Believe me Fei, I tried... I should have told you. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry... I'm sorry for loving you." With that he pressed dry lips to the Chinese man's forehead before relaxing into the mattress, slowing down his breathing and after what felt like hours, let sleep claim him. Leaving Wufei wide awake, alone with his thoughts and the taste of salt on his lips.

-:-:-:-:-:-

I would like to take a second to thank everyone that offered to help me with this story. These people really makes you believe that there are nice people out there on the Internet. (And they might be very sorry that they volunteered, because suddenly they are going to get emails with "Hey, remember me? I have some pointless shit here for you" evil laughter)

Phonenixfirekitsune

Trinity Tomoe

Halas

Kycki kiss

Stratagirl - (I'm sorry that the chapter wasn't as sweet and fluffy as you wanted it, but I promise you that it's coming very soon)

IamMidnite

Shenkai

But there is more. These are the wonderful people that took on my other stories that I had lying around. Without them these stories would probably never have been posted.

SakuyasittleBird - who takes care of "The siren call of the braid in the middle row."

Persephone Choseui - who takes care of "Challenge the dragon." ( This story can not be found on since it contains a lot of sex. If you want, you can find it on adultfanfictionNet or gundam-wing-universeNet)

Eternal Spark - who is helping me bounce ideas for the future story "Normal people scare me." (I'm sooo not going to wright on this story until at least two of my other stories are done. I put of studying far too much as it is.)

And finally, there is Reikoyazumi who is the beta of this story. Many, many thanks to you. (And for those who haven't, check out her Wufei/Duo story "Hard To Say")

And thank you very much to all of you that reviewed. You have helped me more then you can possibly know.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

David was waiting impatiently for the door in front of him to open. Duo had called him earlier and told him that there was something important that he wanted to talk about. He had a good idea of what the braided man wanted to talk about. Wufei Chang. They were both worried about him, and if they had though he was bad before their hike, it was nothing compared to when they got back. The Chinese man had withdrawn even more than before, and all their attempts to get him to open up had failed. Hell, he would hardly answer the door. The first day of the hiking had gone pretty well... if you don't count the massive amount of rain that fell. But the next day had been hell. Wufei had stopped talking, and had looked half a step from a nervous breakdown. This had made Duo so frantic with worry that he could hardly see straight, and it had only gotten worse from there. In the end, they had cut their hiking short, and gone home. By then Wufei had looked like a walking corpse.

David didn't know what to do. Duo was the one who took care of Wufei's "down periods," but this time Wufei was avoiding the braided man like the plague. Which meant that it was more or less up to him to help their friend through this. They didn't expect any help from Wufei's family, because according to Duo they 'fucking suck at helping Wu'. They apparently lived after the 'tough it out' philosophy that, quite frankly, did not work all that well on Wufei's depressions. He raised his hand to knock again when the door opened, and revealed a nervous looking Duo.

"Hey David. Come on in," he said, as he held the door open for his friend.

"So what's up? You sounded pretty serious on the phone. Is it about Wufei?" David shrugged out of his jacket and hung it up by the door.

"Wu? No, just me."

"Right." They walked into the living room. Duo sank down in an over sized armchair, and David took a seat on the couch. The braided man cleared his throat and looked down on his feet. "I've been meaning to tell you something... for a few years actually. I had a reason for not telling you sooner, but that reason is not really valid anymore." He nervously ran his tongue piercing back and forth over his teeth.

David fidgeted impatiently. "Come on man, just tell me. You're freaking me out here."

Duo took a deep breath. "I'm gay."

David gaped in surprise. "You're... gay," he said, as if to confirm that he had heard him right.

"Yeah," Duo said, and played with the end of his braid.

"Wha-" David blinked. "Okay... I really did not see that one coming." He ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair. "I guess it's a stupid question to ask if you're sure?" Duo snorted, and David's lips twitched in response. "Right...Why didn't you tell u-... does Wufei know?"

He nodded. "For a few weeks now."

"Oh, good." 'I'll bet anything that this is related to Wufei's mood,' David thought, as he leaned back and watched his uncomfortable friend. "So, how come you didn't tell us before?"

The braided man swallowed thickly. "I-... It's kind of personal, and I don't really want to talk about it."

"That's cool... but how the hell did you manage to keep it from everyone?"

Duo gave a harsh laugh. "I don't know. People only see what they want to see. They wanted to see a lady's man, and that's what they saw. Not that I can blame anyone, I kind of took it to the extreme."

David laughed. "No kidding."

Duo snickered. "What can I say? Chicks love the hair."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

As David drove home, he thought about everything Duo had told him. He quickly realized that something was missing, and whatever it was, it had something to do with Wufei and his behavior. David decided to trash his previous decision to let his friends handle their own business. It was time to visit a certain Chinese man.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Wufei looked like he had just rolled out of bed when he opened the door. He was wearing a pair of wrinkled cotton pants, his hair was a mess and he had dark bags under his eyes like he hadn't slept in days. David chose not to comment, he was just thankful that his friend was talking again. Wufei made some if that healthy herbal tea, and they sat down on the couch. Wufei truly made a pathetic sight where he was sitting with his legs pulled up, and his hands wrapped tightly around his mug as he stared at the wall. They talked about random light subject before David started to test the water and broth up Duo and his newly admitted sexuality.

David sipped from his mug. "I guess it's true what they say. Girls love the gay guys. Damn, it's so not fair that all those hot females were totally wasted on someone who didn't appreciate breasts. "

That gave him a startled laugh from the slumping Chinese.

David took this as a good sign and continued. "No, I'm serious. Remember Kathlin?"

Wufei thought for a second. "Was that the one with the big breasts?"

"That's the one. Damn, she was fine! She's a model now."

Wufei nodded slightly. "Can't say I'm surprised."

"And then there was that Chinese girl…what was her name? The one that played the piano?"

Wufei frowned. "Tzu Yun."

"Right…and the other one before that was named Gao Jun, I keep confusing their names. Anyway, the Tzu girl, she was unbelievably hot. I saw her a couple of weeks ago and she still has an ass that's not of this world. Didn't he date her sister before that? The one that always had her hair in a ponytail?"

Wufei pulled his legs up tighter against his chest and looked down at his mug. "Yes."

"I think he has a thing for Asians, because he sure dated a lot of them. He probably spent too much time with you." David laughed at his own words and didn't notice Wufei's rigid posture.

David took another sip from his cooling tea. "I wonder what his type is on the other side of the fence? Is he dating anyone now?"

"No," Wufei said, a bit too forcefully.

David gave him a strange look. "Right. Well, there can't be a lot of gay guys in this town."

Wufei thinned his lips before answering in a stained voice. "According to Duo there are two."

"Two? There has to be more than that," David stated, in surprised voice.

Wufei laughed harshly, and wrapped his arms around his legs. "That was what I said."

David had had enough of walking around the problem. "…Okay, I promised myself that I was going to stay out of this, but I have to ask. What the fuck is up with you two? Are you pissed at him, or can't you handle the gay thing? What?"

Wufei looked away. "No, it's a bit more complicated than that."

"How?" David felt bad for pressuring his fragile looking friend, but he really believed that this had to be done. It was obvious that his friend really wanted to tell someone but was hesitating to do so.

"Come on. Just tell me," David said, in what he hoped was in an encouraging voice. He didn't think that he could ever replace Duo when it came to being the one Wufei confided things to, but maybe he could handle being a stand in until the both of them had worked out their differences.

Wufei took a shallow breath before answering. "I- we dated for a while... It didn't work out."

David could feel his brain exploding and leaking out through his ears. "What?! You're gay too?!"

Wufei flinched. "No. And therefore, the reason for the failed dating-relationship-thing."

The brunette hid his face in his hands."... Fuck." This was bad. This was really, really, really bad, and David had no idea what to do or say. He looked up at his friend, who was gripping his mug so hard that he was starting to wonder if it was going to shatter in his hands.

Wufei wrapped his arms around his naked chest. "You don't know the half of it."

David desperately tried to gather his thoughts. "This is so fucking strange. Did he ask you out or..."

"No, I kind of did the asking," the Asian said, and put his mug down on the coffee table.

David felt a headache coming along. "... Let's see if I got this right. You are not gay. But when you found out that Duo was gay, you asked him out."

Wufei sighed. "More or less. I just think that... mind over matter, right? That if I want to be gay, I can be gay. That if I just worked hard enough, I could control my own sexuality. Maybe I can't become gay enough to be attracted to just any male, but with Duo it's not the same thing... because... it's Duo. You know?"

"Because he's your best friend... I must be losing my mind, because yeah, I get it." He rubbed his forehead, trying to ease pressure there. "... So, what happened? Why did you break up?"

Wufei looked away. "I freaked out, that's what happened."

"Over what? Couldn't handle the bad touching?" David snickered. This was all so bizarre that he couldn't help but see the humorous side of this fucked up mess.

"... Not exactly, but something in that direction." The shorter man looked very uncomfortable, and it almost looked like he was blushing.

The brunette leaned towards his friend. "Okay, stop with the bullshit, and just tell me what happened."

Wufei hesitated. "We went on a couple of dates-"

"How many?" David cut in.

"What does that have to do with it?" The Asian asked with a frown.

"Just tell me."

"Four, okay? Right, so we went on four dates and I-…kind of got worried over the…copulation."

David managed not to roll his eyes. "Sex, Wufei, it's called sex."

The Asian glared. "Do you want to hear this or not?"

"Yeah, but I don't get why you are pussy footing around it."

Wufei glared. "Because it's embarrassing, that's why! I didn't know how it worked, so I got online and started to fucking -porn search- to find out. I saw some shit that freaked me out and I went running to Duo like I always do, and he dumped me. End of story."

David's jaw dropped in surprise. "Just like that?"

Wufei pulled at a loose thread on his pants. "Yeah. He didn't think it would work, and that we were better of being friends."

David leaned back in the couch with his head on top of the backrest as he stared at the ceiling. "Man, that's though."

Wufei made an agreeing noise. They sat in silence for what felt like forever, both thinking their own troubles trough.

Wufei suddenly spoke up. "We were going to go to the movies. But I was early and-" He swallowed thickly and rested his head against his raised knees. "They were on the couch. This huge guy was holding him down." Wufei chuckled darkly. "I thought he was getting assaulted, but instead he had only forgotten to mention that he was gay."

David realized that he sucked at this whole 'talking him through it' thing. But there wasn't anyone else. Duo was out, for obvious reasons, Wufei's family were out, Simon might be able to help. They had both known Wufei since their early teens, so he could probably help somehow. The only problem was that he was out of town. All the rest of their friends had moved. No, this was up to him, and he was going to do the best he could. "Damn. This sounds like a bad TV-show." David also realized that his best wasn't all that good.

Wufei snorted. "It would probably look good on TV. Especially since I got in quite a few good hits on him."

'Ow,' was David's first thought. Wufei might look like a fragile guy, but with all that Karate that he had practiced over the years, he had one hell of a strong punch. "Was he all right?"

Wufei looked like just answering the question was giving him a bad taste in his mouth. "-Kevin- was fine. Duo pulled me off before I managed to do any lasting damage."

'Now we're getting somewhere,' David thought in satisfaction. "Kevin?"

For a second he thought that he wasn't going to get an answer. "The guy Duo dated after me."

David groaned. "Don't tell me that he's just as much of a slut with the men as he is with the women!"

Wufei flinched at his words. David clapped him on the shoulder. "We all love the guy, but you know it's true."

"Well, he is not dating -Kevin- anymore ether…apparently they are better off friends then… just like us… fuck, I need some alcohol."

David gave him a look of disbelief. "I thought you didn't drink."

Wufei gave a short, bitter laugh as he wandered off towards the kitchen. "Not without a good reason. And I have had a lot of great reasons to drink lately."

"Shit," David whispered, as he heard the sound of glasses clinking together from the other room. This was not good. This was so far from good as you could get. The gay thing had been a surprise, but Wufei's quest to -become- gay so that he could date Duo had really turned everything inside out. But it didn't stop there. No, Duo had dumped Wufei, something that Wufei apparently did not agree with, but had gone along with.

This is where David felt a bit lost. Wufei wanted them to keep dating, but Duo had put a stop to it. But why had he done that? Wufei had said that it was because Duo had said that they were better off friends, but that didn't sound like the whole truth. Duo couldn't possibly have agreed to date Wufei, only to change his mind after four dates. The stakes was too high for casual dating. With anyone else, sure. But not with Wufei. Duo must have thought it through before agreeing.

This was all so fucked up. Maybe he could call up Clare; she might know what to do. If anyone could get them together it was his girlfriend. Maybe they could double date, or set them up on a 'blind date' with each other. David shook his head. No, things like that only worked in the movies. This was the real world, and there had to be a better way. David couldn't believe that he was contemplating how to get his two friends together as a couple. How the hell do you turn someone gay? Was it even possible? It seemed insane, but if anyone would be able to do it, it should be Wufei. Especially if he was doing it for Duo.

David realized that the more he thought about his two friends dating, the less strange it seemed. They had always been -unbelievably- close. Best friends to their dying breath. They grounded each other; you might even say that they completed each other. But to get them together, he had to find out why they had broken up. And for that, he had to go to the source. It was time to pay Duo another visit.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Duo opened his apartment door and revealed an uncomfortable looking David standing on the other side.

"Hey Duo, can I come in?"

"Sure. Didn't expect to see you again so soon." He stepped out of the way to let him in. Duo groaned when he caught a sight of his friend's stiff back. "Are we going to be all awkward now? I'm not going to jump you."

David blinked in confusion before his eyes lit up in understanding. "Hell Duo, get real. I couldn't care less about who you fuck around with, if it wasn't for the fact that Wufei somehow ended up in that category."

There was a moment of silence. "So he told you." Duo sighed and leaned back against the wall.

" I did not 'fuck around' with Fei. We only dated a few times before we decided that the two of us were better off friends."

David crossed his arms, and leaned back against the wall opposite from him in the narrow hallway. "Funny, that's not what he said to me. He said that you dumped him."

Duo shook his head. "I just said the words, but it was already over. It wasn't going to work. You can't change your sexuality. I should know, since I've been trying for years."

The brunette just looked at him for a few seconds before continuing. "So you believe that Wufei feels the same way."

"Yes... He should. He does. He agreed with me when I said it. He was probably grateful that he didn't have to do it himself," Duo said with certainty.

"That's not the impression I got... Do you want to know what I think?" David's eyes were hard and determined.

Duo sighed, and rubbed a hand over his tired face. "...Yeah, sure," he said, without enthusiasm.

"I think Wufei, as usual, got curious and went searching for answers. Only that he went too fast and panicked, over something that had nothing to do with the two of you. He then did what he always does when there is something he can't handle. He goes to you. Only that this time he didn't get the chance to ventilate his fears and get the help he needed. No, he got dumped. And since you obviously did not think your relationship was worth the hassle, Wufei didn't protest."

Duo stared at David with his mouth hanging open, before trying to stutter out a explanation.

"No! It- No we- He was-"Duo took a deep breath. "It wasn't like that. Or just not exactly like that... you should have seen him. It looked like he was falling apart. It was like a flashback from when we were teens and I couldn't risk him having a relapse, not over something that was never going to work out anyway. It would have been harder to break it off later, and by then it might have been too late... If we weren't friends any more-. I don't think I could handle it."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

David was silent for a few seconds and just looked at his friend before speaking up. "I've had enough of this. Wufei is falling apart and so are you." Duo started to protest, but David just waved it off. "So, I'm going to take off the silk gloves now, and tell it like it is. It's not going to be pretty, but here it goes... I always thought you were the optimist and Wufei the pessimist, but from where I'm standing that is far from the case. Wufei had a lot of hope for this and really thought that he was going to make it, but you gave up before it even started. You know what else? I think you are scared. Yeah, that's right. Glare all you like, because I'm telling you anyway. It's obvious that you've never had a relationship that worked out and you have no idea how to make one work. You have been dumped so many times that you probably don't even believe that you can keep someone. You don't trust yourself to make it work, and you don't trust Wufei to change for you. You are so scared of losing him that as soon as your relationship hit the first bump you stepped on the brakes. "

"I- I- no, that- We-" Duo stuttered harshly.

David pressed on. "You love him. Don't you?"

"Yes," the braided man said without hesitation.

"And if you had any faith in Wufei, you would know that one porn search was not going to destroy everything."

Duo hid his face in his hands, and David pretended not to see his shoulders shake, instead he kept going. "You do realize, that if you just told him that you would like to try again he would happily agree."

"Yeah, well, that's Wufei for you. He would give anything for his friends, no matter the consequence for himself," Duo muttered, roughly.

The taller man ignored him. "It looks to me that Wufei thinks it would work."

"Well, he's wrong," Duo stated.

"So you know him better then he does himself?" David questioned.

"Yes- No, but it's just- Would you stop it! It doesn't work that way. If you're gay, you are gay and if you're straight, you are going to stay straight." Duo's eyes flashed angrily.

David decided that it was time to deliver the killing blow. This had dragged on long enough. "Well, I don't think Wufei is that straight anymore, if he ever was straight." He looked over at his friend, who looked like he was trying not to look hopeful at his words. "The first clue is pretty obvious. Because I don't think a straight man would even consider dating another man."

"They might if they are self-sacrificing idiots."

"Hm, maybe. Did you know he makes this angry little frown every time he says the name 'Kevin'? A coincidence? I think not," he said in a hard voice.

Duo shook his head weakly. "He probably just... no one likes to be replaced. It doesn't mean anything." He sank down on the floor and leaned his head heavily back against the wall.

David sighed. "Okay, seriously. Listen to me. As far as I can tell, Wufei wants to try again. He didn't say it straight out, but it was very clear what he wanted."

Duo didn't say a word, and David had a slight de ja vu feeling when he looked at his friend, who had his hands clapped tightly together in his lap as he stared at the wall in front of him. He could just see Wufei mirroring his position, where he was probably still sitting on his couch. They really needed each other, and David was determined to get them together.

"What I want to know is, that if -he- told -you- that he wanted to try again, what would you say?"

The silence was thick in the hallway. " I-." The slumping man cut himself off and swallowed thickly. "I would say yes." He closed his eyes as if just speaking the words brought him great pain.

"Duo. You are going to have to think about that. Don't let your fears control you. Okay?" With that he clapped heavily on one of Duo's slumping shoulders, and left his friend to think.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Duo sat for a long time and stared blindly at the wall. David's words kept circulating in his head. He wanted to believe that he had broken up with him because Wufei had been uncomfortable and that he hadn't wanted to hurt him… not that he had been scared. That made the whole thing feel cheap. But David's words made a lot of sense. He had never had a working relationship. The closest he had got was his relationship with Sean, and look how that one had ended up. Loving people was hard, and he very rarely let himself feel more than fondness over the people he dated. He knew this. But shouldn't it be different with Wufei, since he already loved him? Had he been scared to let him in?

Duo thumped his head hard against the wall. No, he had let Wufei in. He really had done everything he could to make their relationship work…but maybe, just maybe he had given up too soon. What if he hadn't broken up with him? What if, instead of making tea, he had sat him down to talk? What if he had pulled him close and hugged him? What if he had asked Wu what he wanted? What if? What if? What if? The soul-cutting question tormented him over and over again.

His thought was interrupted by a very familiar phone signal. Fishing his cell phone out of his pocket, he hesitated for a second before flipping it open.

"Hey Wu," he said, trying, but failing, to sound happy.

"Hey... " Wufei responded with a stained voice. "David just called and said-" he cut himself off, but Duo had a pretty good idea of what their mutual friend had told him. Wufei's voice spoke up again, but this time it was in a clear and confident voice. "Duo...I want to try again."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

AN/ And we are back on track J! Many thanks for my wonderful beta Reikoyazumi. There will be hugs for everyone that reviews. Hint-hint ;)

Oh! And another thing, this is the chapter where the story turns in to two versions. There is one version on fanfictionNet and one version on adultfanfictionNet/gundam-wing-fanfictionNet. The difference is that the AFFnet/GWU version is going to have detailed sex and a naughty Wufei who just can't keep his hands to himself, and the FanfictionNet will not.

But the FFnet version is _not_ the AFFnet/GWU version with the sex scene cut out. This story does in fact take another path. For example, this chapter on AFFnet, has a part 2 where you get to follow Wufei after David left his apartment, that part has some adult situations that changes Wufei's character and therefore his actions. They are both going to end the same way (happy endings for everyone! Hurray!), they just get there differently. I hope that made sense. It will probably get clearer after a while

The reason why there is going to be two versions is that I (just for fun, back when this story was just a one-shot) wroth a chapter (that is now the part 2 of this chapter) where Wufei's sexuality is seen in a different light. This changes Wufei's view of himself and the way he deals with the situation. The problem was that it didn't fit in the story line. So I decided to make another one.

So there is the original story line on FFnet that is more focused on the emotional and the other story line on AFFnet/GWU that focuses a bit more on the… physical (in translation, there is sex and stuff in it). So now it's up to you which part you feel like reading J

Well that is all from me. The next chapter is almost done and will be out as soon as possible. Thank you for reviewing!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 (FanfictionNet version)

So, they were back together again… that didn't mean that things were perfect, or even back to the way things were before. They didn't fall into each others' arms and live happily ever after. No, the world didn't work like that. But by god did Wufei wish that it did right now.

It was the day after ´the phone call,' and the two of them had decided to meet up to talk. That would be the reason why they had been sitting awkwardly in Duo's kitchen for almost three hours now without even getting to the topic that they needed to discuss. So far they had talked about the weather, Duo's mother's new garden project, Solo's plans to get a dog, Meilan's plans to talk Solo out of getting a dog, new sci-fi TV series, Wufei's paintings, Duo's loud neighbors, the new Vin Diesel movie, the last Vin Diesel movie, Duo's boss, Wufei's new recipe book for vegetarians, Duo's desperate need of a new TV, a old classmate of theirs that Duo had seen a couple of days ago, Wufei's karate trainer, Duo's writing, David's computer firm, Metallica's latest album, the coffee they were drinking and the half dead tomato plant standing in the kitchen window. But not their relationship.

It was obvious that both of them felt that it was time to cut the bullshit and get to the point… and that would be the reason why neither of them had said a word for the last twenty minutes.

Duo played nervously with his coffee mug while Wufei was desperately trying to come up with something to say. Duo cleared his throat. "So… how do we do this?"

Wufei breathed out a sigh of relief that he didn't have to be the one to bring it up, before realising the difficulty of the question. He shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. Maybe we should just… you know, keep doing what we did before."

'Only that this wasn't even half as awkward the last time we dated,' he thought and looked over to Duo, who was nodding his agreement.

The silence spread once again.

Wufei sipped his coffee and glanced over at his friend who was playing with the end of his braid, a clear sigh that he was nervous. The Asian was grateful that he wasn't the only one, becuse he couldn't remember being this nervous since… well, since their first date, actually.

Wufei tried to relax his tense shoulders without success. He didn't know what to say. It was one thing to say that they were going to try again, but it was a whole other thing to actually do it. He had known that it wasn't going to be easy to get back together and he had accepted that. He wondered what they should do to make this work, if they should do something differently, or if they should just keep dating and hope everything worked out. He hoped Duo knew what he was doing, because he sure as hell had no idea, but by the look of his long-haired friend, he was about as lost as he was.

They both jumped when Duo's cellphone started to ring.

Duo reached out for it and cut The Simpson's theme song off with his thumb. "Maxwell. Hey, David… yeah, he's right here… yeah…. I don't think so… tonight?...I'll ask." Duo turned to him. "David wants to know if we want to go out to dinner with him and Clare tonight."

"What, like a double date?" the Asian asked, and crossed his arms awkwardly in front of his chest.

Duo shrugged. "I guess."

"Yeah, okay," he said with a small nod. He was just happy that someone could make a decision and tell them what to do. He made a mental note to do something nice for David. Something very nice.

Duo gave him a small smile before turning back to the phone. "We´ll be there… seven at 'Janelle's' yeah… thanks Dav' we'll see you there. Bye."

"We're going to Janelle's?" Wufei asked in surprise as soon as Duo hung up the phone.

Duo blinked. "Yeah, Why?"

"You do realise that Jannelle's is one of those 'nice' restaurants that you hate?"

Wufei wasn't sure, but it looked like Duo had turned a bit white before he answered. "Ehm... yeah. It'll be great."

Wufei wasn't convinced.

Two very uncomfortable men met up outside the nice looking restaurant. They stopped a couple of feet away and glanced shyly up at one other.

Wufei was the first to speak. "Hi," was his slightly flustered greeting.

Duo, who had been staring down at the pavement, flickered his eyes up over his friend. "Hi… you look nice."

Wufei looked down on his grey two piece suit, his white dress shirt and his polished shoes. "Thanks, so do you," he said and gesticulated towards Duo's ´nice' pair of black jeans and his form fitting black turtleneck. The clothes were actually more or less Duo's version of a tuxedo and Wufei couldn't remember seeing Duo this dressed up since Solo and Meilan got married. The long hair was braided in to a neat and tight braid while the normally wild bangs were combed with god knows how much hair product to get it to lie down. Wufei forced himself to swallow to get rid of his dry throat as he played nervously with the keys in his pocket.

There was an awkward silence.

"God, this is weird!" Duo exclaimed in a flustered voice.

Wufei laughed in relief. "I know, fucking bizzare."

The taller man ruffled his well combed bangs with a sigh. "We should have gone to the movies insted. This dress-up-and-be-a-grown-up thing is just making me nervous."

Wufei made a noise of agreement and opened up the top button on his shirt."Yeah. Or we should have stayed at home. They're showing 'Vicious Blood 2' on TV tonight."

Duo frowned. "They are? Damn, I wanted to see that one, the first movie was insane."

The Chinese grinned happily. "Yeah, remember when he cut the head off that girl in the pool house?"

The braided man's eyes shone in rememberance. "And when the boyfriend was getting out of the pool he stared straight at her chopped off head."

Wufei laughed. "And then her tongue fell out."

"And he was like 'Ahhhh! MINDY!' and fell back into the pool." Duo flapped his arms and 'fell' backwards.

Wufei smirked and crept up next to his friend, holding his hands out like he was carrying a long stick. "And the killer came from the side-"

Duo grinned and twisted his torso towards the incoming 'killer. "And stabbed him-"

Wufei held his 'stick' up high. "With the parasol-" he continued and rammed his 'stick' through his victim.

Duo made a gargling noise and stumbled forward. "And it came out of his side-"

"And that old guy came in to check what had gotten stuck in the pump-."

"And the guy was floating around like a olive stuck on a toothpick." Duo bobbed up and down with his face twisted in a horrific grimace.

They both roared with laughter and started to play out another bloody scene from the movie, this one involving a big breasted blond, a grill and burning silicone.

The restaurant's door opened and a old couple walked out, looking with disapproval at the two hysterically laughing men. The sound of people talking was heard from inside, and the air smelled heavily of roasted meat and spices before the door swung closed again. Duo looked at the entrance with_ reluctance_. "Maybe we should just ditch them and go home."

Wufei shook his head with a sigh. "Nah, We can't do that, we owe David big time."

Duo smiled gently and linked their fingers together. "Yeah, we do."

Wufei smiled slightly in response and tightened his grip. "Come on, let's go in. If we are lucky we can make it back before the movie starts."

Duo seemed to hesitate. "What time?"

"It starts at ten thirty and it's..." Wufei let go of Duo's hand to check his watch. "Five to seven. Let's say that there is going to be five to ten minutes of pleasantries before we get the menus and decide what to eat. Another five to ten minutes until we get to order."

"Five to ten?" Duo questioned.

"Something like that, I came here a few months ago with my parents," he said and picked some lint off the arm of his suit.

Duo frowned. "Still… five to ten minutes just to order."

Wufei sighed. "I´m not even going to say anything about your eating habits."

"What? There's nothing wrong with eating a burger every now and then," Duo said and stuck his tongue out.

The Asian gave him a look. "Do you know whats in one of those burgers?" he asked with distaste.

The long-haired man smiled brightly. "No, and I can't say I want to know. Ignorance is bliss."

"One day you are going wake up with your belly hanging out of your pants," Wufei said and poked him in the stomach.

"Oh, sexy," Duo said with a wink.

"No. Not sexy. Disgusting," he said with a look of repulsion.

"Yeah, well just think how sexy you're going to look standing next to me."

Wufei rolled his eyes. "Back to the subject. Five to ten minutes to order. About twenty to half an hour to get the food."

"Twenty to half an hour?!" he cried out.

The Asian leered. "Yes, they are pretty effective here."

Duo's eyes boggled. "That's effective?"

Wufei once again rolled his eyes. "Yes, that's effective for this kind of resurant. So, we eat for about an hour, then the dessert… it's hard to say but we should be able to get out of there in about…two hours and fifteen minutes."

His friend just stared at him. "I'm not going to ask how you came up with that."

"Well, there are four of us so if each of us take about five minutes to-"

Duo slapped a hand over his mouth. "I wasn't going to ask because I didn't want to know."

Wufei sighed against the hand and rolled his eyes.

"You should stop doing that or your eyes are going to get stuck up there," Duo teased and removed his hand.

"You do know that it's physically impossible for-"

Duo cut him of by hitting him over the head. "Shut up, you freak."

"Hey! Be nice to your date," he exclaimed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, well if my date wasn't such a geek I wouldn't have to."

Wufei froze and glared at his friend. "I'm not a geek.

"Yes, you are," he replied with a leer.

"I'm not the one who owns every Star Trek episode ever made."

Duo's eyes widened at the implied insult. "Star Trek is a classic! Not to mention that the only reason that you don't own them too is that you watch mine insted."

"That is sooo not true. You take that back, you fucking trekkie!" he growled and poked his friend in the chest.

"It takes one to know one my fellow- AH! Get off!" Duo shrieked as he was pulled into a headlock.

"Take it back," Wufei said and tightened his grip as Duo struggled.

"Never!" he choked out and tried to take the other man's legs out. That proved to be a lot more complicated than expected, and he ended up on his back on the pavement with Wufei sitting on his chest.

The Asian leered down on his friend. "Do I need to remind you which one of us has a black belt?"

"No," Duo smirked and rammed his fingers in under the suit jacket and into the darker man's waist, making him squeal. "But I can remind you who's extremly ticklish."

Then the war was on. Wufei had the upper hand, since he knew all the clever tricks, but Duo wasn't far behind because he knew all the dirty tricks and he wasn't afraid to use them.

A shreiking 'The Simpsons' theme song made the both of them freeze up. By that time they had reached a stalemate. Duo was lying on his stomach on the pavement with Wufei lying heavily over his back, but the Asian's hands were trapped between the taller man's chest and the ground, making it impossible for him to move. There was a moment of silence before the phone rang once again.

"On the count of three?" Wufei offered and Duo nodded his acceptance. "One, two, three." Duo released his friend's hands and two seconds later Wufei was already on his feet, checking his jacket for wrinkles and dirt. Duo rolled over on to his back and got his cell out of his pocket.

"Maxwell… yeah, we're right outside… yeah…No, we're fine…Wufei is just being a geek OW!... No, the little fucker kicked me in the head… no, I'm on the ground-…hello?" Duo blinked and looked at his phone. "He hung up."

"I wonder why," Wufei mumbled, as he looked down on his friend. "Come on, get up." He held his hand out and pulled the rumpled looking man to his feet. "God, you're a mess," he said, brushing some dirt off Duo's black shirt.

"And you're not," Duo said with a pout as he looked at Wufei's spotless suit.

"Yes, now let this be a lesson to you," he said with a superior grin.

Duo glared. "I'm going to get you for this," he said as he tried to get the dust off his jeans.

"Yes, yes, pain and suffering will rain upon me. I know. Now let's get you cleaned up, sweetheart, so we can go inside," Wufei said in a extremly patronising voice. He barely manage to duck the slap his friend aimed at his head.

Duo had always liked David's girlfriend. She was smart, nice and she never flirted with him. She was perfect. But at the moment she was his least favorite female in the world, because as soon as she found out about him and Wufei she turned in to a total fag-hag! She had been going on and on for-fucking-ever about gay rights, gay marriage, gay adoption and just about anything slightly related to anything gay. Duo was ready to strangle himself with his braid. That, or put on some glittery makeup and dance down the street wearing high heels and a thong while singing "It's raining men"… he was leaning towards the strangling. Wufei looked like he was in physical pain, and David 'the lapdog' was not helping at all, as he was nodding along to everything his girlfriend said with a look of adoration on his face.

Taking his chance while Clare the fag-hag was talking to the waiter, Duo leaned over towards Wufei.

"What time is it?" he whispered.

Wufei flipped his wrist around to look at his watch. "Nine forty-five," he groaned quietly.

"Shit, we have to get out of here before I lose my mind," he hissed, while glancing over at the other side of the table to make sure that Clare was still occupied.

The Asian nodded enthusiastically. "Definately. We need a plan."

As 'the ultimate faghag' turned back towards them, Duo mouthed 'bathroom' with a look of desperation.

Clare smiled brightly. "Now, where was I? Oh yes, I still think that the Christian groups are picking and choosing what parts of the bible they want to focus on, whe-"

"Yes!" Duo cut in with a somewhat wild smile. "Yes, you're so right. A very interesting outlook, but you have to excuse us. We need to go to the bathroom."

"What? You're going together? I didn't know that being gay turned you in to a girl." David the 'fucking treacherous lap dog' said. in a totally unhelpful way.

Luckily, Duo was saved from trying to come up with an excuse by the lapdog's outraged girlfriend.

"David!" she hissed, "Stop being so narrow minded!"

Duo couldn't help but grin evilly at his miserable looking friend before grabbing a hold of his date and dragging him along with him.

Wufei closed the bathroom door behind them. "Now what?" he asked.

Duo shrugged. "I don't know, but we only have forty-five minutes to get to your place."

"Taxi?"

"Nah, let's run. It will only take about ten minutes or so." Duo said before moving over to the mirror to check his teeth.

"Right... you just want to laugh at me when I'm all worn out while you haven't even started to sweat," the Chinese man said with a mock glare.

Duo rolled his eyes with a smile. "For someone who is such a health freak, you are a really bad runner."

"I'm not built to run, so sue me," he shrugged, as Duo turned away from the mirror.

The long haired man grinned and patted his friend on the head. "Nah, I'd rather look down on you while you pant..." He stopped. "That didn't come out right." Duo mumbled, as he blushed bright red. He turned back to the mirror with the excuse of checking his hair with his face still burning.

Wufei snickered and followed him. "I know, but you should have seen the look on your face when you said it." When his friend turned to face him he got up on his toes and gave Duo a kiss on his cleanly shaved cheek.

Duo grinned goofily and Wufei laughed at the sight. "You look like you just won the lottery."

"I got something better. I got kisses," he said with a happy sigh.

Wufei rolled his eyes. "You are so sappy."

Duo shrugged, still grinning like a loon, and Wufei couldn't help but kiss him again. But this time he didn't go for the cheek, instead he went for the lips. Duo was startled, but it only took him a second to respond by kissing him back wholeheartedly. It started out slow but soon grew more heated. Mouths opened and hesitating tongues brushed against each other. Back and forth, they started stroking against each other. Wufei shivered happily as Duo's tongue piercing swept over his tongue and he deepened the kiss to feel it again. The urge to get closer grew and Wufei wrapped his arms around his friend's waist. Duo was spreading his legs from where he was more or less sitting on the sink, an action that brought him closer and more in height with Wufei, who took advantage of the new position to press himself closer. His hands had somehow ended up underneath Duo's shirt and were carefully stroking the smooth warm skin on his back. Duo's hands on the other hand had a firm grip on his ass, and seemed to take great pleasure in squeezingit. He ground his hips into Duo who groaned happily in response.

"Whoow! So that's why the gay men go to the bathroom together."

They stopped and turnd to look over to the door where David was standing with a hand over his eyes. Wufei snatched his hands from underneath Duo's shirt and stepped back to tuck the edge of his shirt back into his pants. They were both very aware of the state of their groins.

"Look, I'm cool with the gay thing and all, but that sight is going to give me nightmares and possibly demand therapy." He emphasized his words by shivering. "Let's make a deal, we'll pretend that I never saw my friends hump each other in the men's room and I'll tell Clare that something came up..." David grimaced. "Okay, bad choice of words. I'll tell her something happened and you had to leave. Now, I'm going to take my hand away from my eyes and walk out of this room. Let's never speak of this again." With those words he left the two men standing dumbfounded in the bathroom.

Wufei looked over at Duo who was blinking rapidly. Their eyes met, and the second later they were both laughing hysterically.

Gasping for air, Wufei wiped a tear away from his eye before patting his still laughing friend on the back. "Come on, we still have thirty minutes before 'Vicious Blood 2' starts. If we run we'll have time to make popcorn."

Duo straightened up and took a deep breath before he managed to collect himself enough to talk. "Should we say goodbye?"

Wufei smirked widely. "Can you imagine David's face if we did?"

"I think we have to," Duo said before an evil smile spread across his face. "Hey, you know what would be hilarious?"

The Asian gave the smile a worried glance. "What?"

The smile grew. "If one of us came out with a hickey."

Wufei grinned. "That's brilliant! We should mess up our hair a bit too, and untuck my shirt again."

Duo laughed as he watched Wufei pull his shirt out. "The whole restaurant is going to know what we have been doing."

"Who cares? Come on, let's pull some strands out of your braid and you can put a hickey on me," Wufei said as he reached for the braid. He stopped at the blissful look on the other man's face. "What?"

The taller man just shook his head with a smile. "Nothing, just... thank you."

"For what?" he asked in confusion.

"Being you."

Wufei snorted. "Yeah, no problem, any time. Now are you going to give me a hickey or not?"

"Pushy," Duo said with an obviously fake grumble before stepping up close to the Chinese man. Long fingers tilted Wufei's head to the side and a hot breath hovered over his exposed neck. Wufei, who was very aware of how sensitive his neck was, didn't even try to stop the shiver that went through his body.

"I've been wanting to do this for years," Duo purred, before he latched his mouth onto Wufei's neck and sucking it, hard. By the intensity of Duo's mouth, Wufei could tell that this was one very big hickey coming along. Duo had also placed it high enough that no shirt could ever hide it. Wufei bit his tongue to stop himself from whimpering at the feeling of that hot, sucking mouth on his neck. Some lose strands from Duo's bangs tickled his face, and he raised his hand to brush them away. As he did, his hand made contact with Duo's jaw and he let his fingers trail over the slightly stubble covered chin.

This close to his friend, he could smell the spicy tang of his cologne and that underlying smell that was just Duo. He moved his hand down the other's neck and chest. The turtleneck was soft against the palm of his slightly shaky hand, which soon found itself hovering alone in the air as Duo stepped back to examine his work. "Perfect," he said with a satisfied voice. "Come on, let's go freak David out," he said and held his hand out to Wufei who took it without a second thought. They walked out of the bathroom holding each other's hands tightly.

A update! Happy days :)

Please, please, pleaseeeeeeeeeeeese tell me what you thought about the chapter puppy eyes


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

It wasn't until Duo popped his head into his bedroom to tell him that he was leaving for work that Wufei realized that Duo had been staying in his apartment since the dinner disaster three days ago. They hadn't planned it or anything, Duo had just... not left. Not that he minded, it was nice to have another person around, especially Duo who already knew all his quirks and habits. Not to mention that his guest futon more or less already had Duo's name on it. He didn't spare the thought much energy; instead he threw his legs over the edge of the bed and got up.

After doing his daily push and sit ups he sat down on the edge of his bed to pull on a pair of socks, only to find them far too big. A closer look told him that it wasn't all that strange since they were actually Duo's. He sure as hell didn't own any Rolling Stones socks. Taking a new pair out of the closet, he pulled them on before wandering into the living room comfortably dressed only in socks and underwear.

Duo's bedding was, as usual, spread over a bigger surface than necessary and he spent a couple of minutes tidying it up. How one person could create such a mess without even trying was, for him, a mystery. After folding all the bedding he collected Duo's used clothes and carried them into the bathroom, where he stuffed them into the almost-full hamper. He really needed to do the laundry tomorrow. Walking back into his bedroom, he collected both his used clothes from the day before and some clean ones for today. The used clothes ended up in the hamper and the clean ones folded on top of the toilet lid before he stepped in to the shower. He thought about masturbating, but he was too tired and he didn't have any inspiration to get himself going, so he just washed up and got out.

After drying himself off, he stepped up to the somewhat foggy mirror and tilted his head back so that he could see the dark hickey on his throat. It had started to fade slightly, but it was going to take a lot longer for it to go away fully. It was strange, but every time he looked at it he could hear Duo's voice telling him that how he had 'wanted to do this forever'. Shaking his head, he turned around to get dressed. Pulling on a clean pair of boxer briefs he reached for his jeans only to stop and call himself every kind of idiot. He took another trip in to his bedroom where he exchanged his clean clothes for paint stained ones. It wouldn't do to get paint on anymore of his clothes since most of them already had stains on them.

Dressed and ready to meet the day, he started out by cleaning up the (to Duo's credit) small mess in the kitchen after Duo's breakfast before he set out to do his own.

The sun was just rising and he took the opportunity to sit on his rarely used balcony. It wasn't because it was anything wrong with the balcony itself. It was big and overlooking a small park, it was just that he only had sun on it early in the morning and he wasn't so fond of sitting in the shadow. Sitting down on a plastic chair he leaned back to enjoy his breakfast. In the last few years he had developed a habit of sleeping in, so it was rare for him to be up this early. It was kind of nice and the day became a lot longer, which also meant that he got a lot more done.

That didn't mean that he had been all that happy when Duo had woken him up at half past six on Monday morning to inform him that he was leaving. Yesterday morning had only been slightly better but this morning actually hadn't been all that bad. 'Probably just had to get used to it.' He thought to himself as he took another sip from his cooling tea. 'Maybe I should start setting my alarm.'

It would be nice to get up at the same time as Duo so that they could eat breakfast together. He didn't really like to eat alone and if he was the one doing the breakfast, then it would be a lot less dishes to do later.

Wandering back inside he washed up both his own dishes and Duo's second set of dishes that he had found in the microwave. Apparently, Duo had started to make porridge on a plate only to ether run out of time or get distracted by god knows what. The plate of soggy oats was therefore still standing in the microwave when Wufei had opened the hatch to re-heat his tea.

He took a look through the kitchen to make sure that they had everything they needed for dinner before wandering off into his studio. He had another two weeks before his next art show and he had more than enough material but it was still nice to let his mind wander through his painting.

It probably wasn't all that strange that a lot of his newer paintings were of Duo, since his friend had pretty much been the only thing on his mind lately. Especially since their little get-together in "Jannelle's" bathroom.

There hadn't been any more kisses or anything like it in the last three days, but the feeling was still there, resting under the surface. He had thought a lot about the kiss that -he- had started. He didn't regret it, but at the same time he couldn't believe that he had actually done it. Even though it had been nice there was still the whole gay thing that kept making things awkward.

But he had learned something from it, and that was that not everything needed to be planned, because it could just as well work out on its own. He hadn't planned to kiss Duo; he had just done so on instinct. Kissing Duo's cheek had felt natural, even if he had never done anything like it to his friend before and then the kiss itself had followed, just as natural. It hadn't felt like a next step or like he was doing it to prove anything. He hadn't done it to make his theory work or because it felt expected of him he had just... kissed Duo. It hadn't felt like a huge deal, instead it had just felt... good.

Wufei took a sip of his tea as he stared at the blank canvas in front of him. He wanted to paint that kiss. Somehow he wanted to capture that feeling and put it out there for everyone to see. He closed his eyes as he thought back to that night in the restaurant's bathroom.

It had started out slow, almost shallow. They had both been so hesitant that it had hardly been more than a friendly touch of lips until the heat, god, the -heat- of it had spread. Then came the overwhelming feeling of wanting to be closer, much closer. He didn't know if it had been purely physical or not, but his lower regions sure had been interested. He remembered how he had pulled Duo's shirt up to get his hands in under it. He remembered how Duo's skin had felt under his hands. He remembered how Duo's hands had felt on his skin. He remembered that piercing sliding over his tongue, the way Duo smelled, the way he tasted, the way he had opened his legs so that he could fit between them and the way Duo's hands had felt when they gripped his ass. Taking a deep breath he opened his eyes... and started to paint.

A couple of hours later he decided to take a short break and made himself another cup of tea. A quick look at his wristwatch told him that there were still two hours before Duo would get back from work, so he still had some time to paint before he had to start with their dinner.

Steaks were on the menu since they had vegetarian lasagna yesterday and broccoli pie the day before that. Duo wouldn't be all that happy if he didn't get some meat soon. Luckily for Duo he hadn't been strictly vegetarian for years now, so he didn't have a problem with eating a dead animal every now and then, he just preferred not to.

While the microwave was working, Wufei took the time to fold the sweatshirt that Duo had left on the back of a chair. 'I should empty one of the wardrobes so that I don't have to have Duo's clothes piled all over the place,' he thought to himself.

With a new tea mug in his hand, Wufei went back in to his studio. He looked closely at what he had painted so far. It felt like he couldn't quite get it right. He couldn't get the angles right even though he had redone it several times. Duo would probably tell him that he was thinking too much again, while Lincy would say that he wasn't thinking enough. But on the other hand, Lincy did have her head buried a bit too deep in the economical aspect of art, being his art dealer and all.

Dipping one of the thicker brushes in to a small bucket of red paint he concentrated on the picture in his mind. Careful not to get anymore paint on the floor he lifted the brush to the canvas. Wufei let it hover there for a second before, without the slightest hesitation, painting a long, wide line from the top right corner, down to the middle where he connected the line with another long wide line in green. He took a step back to look at it. It was just the way he wanted it, but there was still something missing.

He started slightly at the sound of his cellphone going off and he put the brush down to jog into the kitchen to the counter where he had left the phone. He took one look at the display before answering. "Lincy, speak of the devil, I was just thinking about you," Wufei said with a smile as he turned to wander back in to his studio, totally unaware of the green footprints that he was leaving on the wooden floor.

"Good thoughts I hope," his art dealer said, making Wufei grin. He closed the studio door behind him with his foot, leaving a green smudge on it.

He picked up his brush from where he had dropped it on the already paint stained table next to his easel. "Like you would ever do anything to make me think anything bad about you."

Lincy snorted amused laughter. "Exactly. Well anyway, I had a reason for calling."

"And that would be?" he asked as he placed his brush in the water jar next to the others. He had a feeling that this 'reason' was going to take a while and he didn't want to destroy any of his brushes.

"I have some bad news. We can't use our gallery since Yvon's new artist poured water all over the floors to show the audience how unreliable and uncomfortable the world is. The whole place is now water damaged and won't be fixed until sometime next year."

Time stopped and Wufei suddenly became very cold. "But-" he stuttered out. He put a hand down on the table to support himself as the walls started to close in on him.

"I've got us a new gallery just down the street so it wont be a problem for the regular crowd to find their way there. The only problem is that it's only got room for about ten to eleven pieces," Lincy continued, totally unaware of the chaos that her words were causing inside of him.

Wufei stumbled and barely managed to stay on his feet as he looked around the room that was more or less filled with completed paintings. "Eleven?" he whispered in horror.

"Yeah, you're going to have to cut down a bit, but that shouldn't be a problem, right?" She didn't give him a chance to say anything before continuing. "The other bad news is that the opening is going to have to be on Tuesday next week."

"But- but that's in seven days."

"Six if you don't count the plane ride and five if you want the paintings to arrive on time. I booked you a plane ticket on Monday morning and sent all the info to your mail. I'll pick you up at the airport. Call me if you need anything. Okay?"

"Okay," Wufei choked out.

"Great, I'll see you then, bye."

The phone fell out of Wufei's numb fingers. He was trembling, his breathing was irregular and for the first time in a long time he wanted his pills.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Duo was surprised when he walked in to Wufei's apartment and his greeting went unanswered. Since both the kitchen and the living room were empty it wasn't hard to guess were his friend was, especially since he had green footprints to follow.

He opened the door to the studio and took a quick look around. At first he thought that Wufei wasn't in there, but then he caught a sight of the curled up shape sitting next to the door.

"Wu? What's wrong?" Duo asked as he hunched down next to his friend.

Wide eyes looked up at him through a curtain of black hair. "I- paintings and I have to, and the Lincy called and now there's a- and- and."

"Wu." Duo cut in as softly as he could. "It's okay, we'll fix it but I need you to take a deep breath, that's it... now another. Good, now try to relax you shoulders."

Wufei took an almost claw like grip around his wrist. "But- but the time!"

Duo petted the tense hand. "Don't worry. We'll be done on time. Now relax, concentrate on your shoulders," Duo said in a soothing voice as he carefully rubbed the back of Wufei's neck. The last thing his friend needed was to tense up enough to get a headache. "Now, you said Lincy called. What did she want? Take a deep breath before you answer."

Wufei swallowed thickly before taking a long, shaky breath. "The gallery where I usually have my shows got water damaged." Duo held back a sigh of relief as he felt Wufei start to relax under his hand. "Some idiot poured water all over the floor in a show. Lincy booked another gallery but it's only got room for eleven paintings instead of twenty-five and it's in five days instead of a two weeks!" The last part was hissed out in an almost hysterical voice.

Duo put an arm around the other man's shoulders. "Okay, come on. Let's sit down over by the table and I'll get you something to drink."

"But-" Wufei protested.

"Everything is going to be fine and you have the time to sit down for a few minutes."

The next protest came out a bit weaker. "But-"

"For me?" He asked in a childish voice, making sure to pout and to make his eyes as big as he could get them.

Wufei's lips twitched slightly. "You are too old to pull off the puppy eyes."

"Am not, because you are going to do as I ask, aren't you?"

Wufei's mouthe twitch stretched out into a small smile. "Don't I always?"

Duo only smiled as Wufei got to his feet.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

After pushing Wufei down on a chair and getting one for himself from the kitchen, Duo placed a glass of orange juice in front of his slumping friend. The worst panic seemed to have passed but Duo didn't fool himself into thinking that it was over just yet. They had been through this before and he knew what to do, this was familiar ground. The first step was to make sure they did something productive so that Wufei had something to focus on. That's why Duo flipped his work pad open to a new page, armed with a pen, ruler, eraser and a determined face. "So, let's organize this a bit. How many paintings do you have?"

Wufei dipped a finger in to his juice, stirring it around before responding. "I don't know... about forty or something."

Duo whistled. "Forty? Damn Wu. You have been one creative little artist lately haven't you?"

The shorter man shrugged. "Lot of emotions that needed to get out."

Duo nodded thinking back how he had almost had to drag Wufei out of his studio to go hiking. "Ah, so do any of those paintings connect, like in a theme or something?"

Wufei hunched down until his eyes were in line with the juice. There he watched the surface part around his moving finger. "All of them."

"Right, in different themes?" Duo asked in a hopeful voice.

"Yeah, pretty much," Wufei replied quietly before pulling his finger up. One single drop of juice landed on the table before the finger was sucked in to the Asian's mouth. It only stayed there for a few seconds before being pulled out through tightly kept lips with a wet pop.

For a second Duo could only stare at the damp finger before getting his thoughts off his cock and back to the subject. "Good, okay, yeah... How many themes do you have?"

"Three, no four, or it might be three, yeah three."

"Great. " Duo drew two lines from the top of the page and down. "Collective name for each of them?"

Wufei looked uncertain "Ummm..."

"Just temporary, we can change them later," he said reassuringly.

"Right... 'Before the storm', 'the change' and... 'Despair'"

Duo cringed slightly as he wrote them down. "Ouch, no need to ask what the paintings are about then. So how many are there in each category?"

"Seven in storm, twelve in change and... and I don't really know how many in despair... things got a bit... blurry there for a while and I lost count."

'No shit,' Duo thought as he remembered walking in to Wufei's studio after the other man had spent almost a week in there, probably without food and sleeping on the ratty old couch that he had in there. It had been like walking in to a cave with dark paint, dark paintings and an even darker mood.

He shook the thought away and focused on the present. "So, any thoughts about which paintings you want to bring?"

"I don't know... the darker, more depressing ones usually sell better."

"But you don't like them." Duo read between the lines.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Wufei sighed. 'Am I that easy to read?' He thought sadly. "It's not that I don't like them it's just... they are so full of negative emotions that it's hard to feel anything else when I look at them. I've been selling a lot of them and I just feel like... I can do more then that. I might feel... d- depressed sometimes but who doesn't feel down every now and then? There is more to my life then that and I- I don't want to be that!" he just about screamed as he slapped the back of his hand against the canvas that was leaning against the wall behind him.

The braided man turned his eyes to the painting and Wufei had to look away. Before he knew what he was doing he had gotten to his feet and turned his back both to the painting and to Duo. He didn't want to see Duo's reaction to the first painting that he had done when he had gotten back from their hiking. He had poured all his anger and all his self-contempt over it. The painting felt evil and Wufei wanted to burn it and forget that he had ever made it.

He heard Duo push his chair back. "Come here," his friend said in a soothing voice and waved him over, something that he did with heavy steps. Duo took him by the arm, turned him around and pulled him up against his chest. Long arms wrapped themselves around his body and he felt Duo lean his cheek against the side of his face.

"Look at it," the other man said softly and Wufei reluctantly lifted his eyes off the floor to look at the awful thing. It almost felt worse than before, standing there with the reason for all his self-contempt and Wufei really wanted to destroy it.

"That isn't you. That is your pain for all to see." Wufei cringed at his friend's words. "Did I ever tell you how proud I am over you for doing this?"

"No," He mumbled. Duo hadn't, but it wasn't like he blamed him, they were men, not fourteen year old girls and things like that were rarely put into words.

"Well I am... really proud," Duo said and hugged him a bit tighter. "The first time that you showed your paintings to the public I almost think that I was more excited then you were."

Wufei smiled." Yeah, I remember that you ran all over town, putting up fliers everywhere."

Duo nodded against his head. "I was so happy and proud over you. That you had come so far as to show everyone what you were feeling. You, who would hide in my room whenever something happened."

Wufei grimaced in embarrassment. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"No, no. I wasn't complaining, I was always happy when you came to me, never think otherwise. But that doesn't mean that I wasn't proud of you for showing everyone what you had been hiding for so long."

A tremble went through his body at Duo's words. He closed his eyes tightly and leaned a little heavier against the other man.

"You are stronger then you think," Duo told him.

"I don't feel very strong," he whispered.

"You are, but you don't have to be all the time."

"Is that what I have you for?"

Duo laughed slightly and Wufei could feel a wide grin against the side of his head. "Yeah, that and to make sure that you always have dishes to wash."

"There is always that."

They stood there for a long while, leaning against each other, until Duo bent down to kiss his temple. "Come on, let's pack up these up," he said and stepped back.

"Which ones?" he asked, already missing Duo's warmth against his back.

"The ones that make you happy."

Wufei blinked and looked around the room. "Oh... I've never gone after that criterion before."

"What do you usually go after?" Duo asked, as he looked around at all the canvases leaning against the walls.

"I take the paintings that I think will sell best," he replied quietly.

"In that case I think it's time to try something new."

"Yeah, maybe," he said softly and wrapped his hand around Duo's.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A while later when Wufei had picked out eleven paintings to take with him, it was time for what Wufei considered to be the most boring part of the whole process. Packing them. Every painting needed to be wrapped in paper before being packed into boxes with protective bubble wrap in between each piece. It was boring as hell... or it usually was, but with Duo there to help him the whole thing suddenly felt a lot easier.

"Hey Wu," Duo began with a bit of hesitation in his voice.

Wufei bit off a piece of tape. "Yeah?"

"Emm, I don't really have any money right now but I'll pay you back when I can."

Wufei nodded as he carefully wrapped up the large painting he was holding. "Sure, how much do you need?"

"Well, how much do you want for that painting?"

Wufei blinked and followed Duo's pointing finger towards the oil painting hanging by the door. "You want it?" Wufei asked in surprise. Duo hadn't shown any real interest in his paintings since he started drawing more abstract pieces. Duo was more for easy images where there were no questions what the pictures depicted. "Why?" He couldn't help but ask because he really wanted to know what was so special about that painting.

"Because it's us," Duo replied.

Wufei looked over at the painting that indeed was of the two of them. But how Duo could tell was the question because it sure didn't look like them, being just a mass of blue, brown, purple and green blocks in different shapes and sizes with a few white dots up in the right corner.

"How can you tell?"

"My hair kind of gave it away," Duo replied, pointing at the long line of brown triangles stretching out from almost the top to the bottom on top of a blurry blue-green shape made out of circles in different sizes.

"That is obviously you," he continued, indicating the group of blue and purple blocks bundled together next to the blurry shape. Wufei wondered if he should be embarrassed over how much 'Duo's' blur was oozing in, over and around 'his' shape.

"And that is the Starship Voyager," Duo pointed in triumph to the rounded shapes in the right corner, surrounded by white dots.

Wufei shook his head with a smile. "I was kind of thinking that the smooth shape represented the calm and innocence of childhood."

"Shut up, I know the Voyager when I see it." Duo crossed his arms and gave him a determined look.

Wufei chuckled and gave the painting another look. It kind of did look like the starship. "So that's why you wanted it, fucking Trekkie."

Duo raised his chin. "And damn proud of it. So how much do you want for it?"

Wufei snorted. "Don't be an idiot, just take it."

"How are you going to make any money if you give them away?"

"I make enough money."

"But-"

"Take the damned thing or I'm going to give it to David so that he can use it as a target for his paintball gun."

"You would, wouldn't you?" Duo asked with accusing eyes.

"You know I would."

"Fine! But I'm paying for our date." Duo declared.

"We have another date?" Wufei asked in surprise

Duo paused. "Well, no. But the next time we do, don't even think about paying!"

Wufei rolled his eyes at his friend's dramatic declaration. "Yeah, yeah. Now help me wrap these up."

With Duo's help he stared to unroll the large roll of brown paper and cut it into the right sizes for the next painting.

"Hey Wu."

"Mmm."

"What's it called?"

"The painting? The best of friends."

Duo's smile was almost blinding.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The next morning, Wufei did set his alarm and got up just in time to join Duo for breakfast.

He was met with Duo's best Doctor Frankenstein impression. "My god, IT'S ALIVE!"

Wufei would have glared if he weren't so damned tired. Instead he just mumbled 'barely' and dragged his feet all the way over to the counter to get his tea.

"Why are you up?" Duo questioned in a horribly cheerful voice.

"Breakfast. Company," was all he said as he filled his mug with water. He had just closed the microwave when he suddenly got jumped from behind. Strong arms almost lifted him off the floor in a tight hug.

"Thanks, I hate eating alone," Duo said happily before releasing him and giving him a short but enthusiastic kiss. As they parted, Wufei blinked and looked up at his brightly smiling friend. "Hi," was the incredibly intelligent response that left his mouth. Duo just grinned. "Hi, do you want some toast?"

Wufei nodded and turned around to set the microwave while Duo just about skipped over to the toaster. They spent the rest of the time they had before Duo had to leave for work in a comfortable silence.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Since he refused to start with any new paintings, he decided to finish 'the kiss' that evening and instead spent the rest of the day doing everything but painting. He scraped the green paint off his living room floor, did the laundry, cleaned out a wardrobe in his bedroom where he collected all Duo's clothes he had found lying around his apartment and paid his bills. But that was just before lunch. Wufei was a bit impressed with himself for actually eating lunch; he hadn't done that since he was still in school. After that he cleaned, downloaded a couple of low budget action movies, watered his plants, and later that afternoon he went to the dojo for a really good work out.

When he got back Duo was already at home and Wufei sighed when he saw him. Duo was sitting on the couch with all his attention stuck on the television, and it was obvious that he had been sitting there for a while. His friend had slid down as much as he could and still have his ass on the seat with his legs up on Wufei's glass table. He had a mug filled with sugary cereal in his hand that he was eating out of with a too-big spoon. The front of his shirt had several milk stains and a couple of colorful wheat flakes were leading a trail up to his neck. He also had a large blue smudge, probably from a broken pen, from his temple all the way over his un-shaved cheeks down to his chin. Wufei wondered how long his friend had been walking around with it and why none of his co-workers had mentioned anything to him.

Duo must have felt him looking, because he took his eyes off the low budget action scene to look at him. "Whagh?" he questioned with the spoon still stuck in his mouth.

"You're a mess," Wufei stated as he sat down next to him.

Duo took the spoon out and Wufei watched with distaste as some left over milk dripped down over the other man's fingers. "So? What else is new?" Duo grinned and dipped the spoon down into the cereal. Wufei reached over and snatched the mug out of his hands.

"Hey! I was eating that," the braided man protested.

Wufei got to his feet with a tight grip around the somewhat sticky mug. "It's almost time for dinner. Go clean yourself up and I'll start in the kitchen."

Duo gave him a confused look.

"Get moving, I'm not going to date someone who looks like a bum." Wufei pointed towards the bathroom, something that made Duo roll his eyes as he got to his feet. "Yeah, yeah. I'm going. And here I thought you were bad before we got together," he muttered as he got to his feet, but Wufei just smirked.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Drying off his naphtha-scented hands on a towel, Wufei walked out from his studio. His eyes fell on his friend who, after dinner, had collapsed in front of the television and by the looks of it, hadn't moved an inch since then. Duo once again had his feet up on his coffee table but this time instead of eating cereal he was throwing his cellphone from one hand to the other. Back and forth, back and forth.

Walking over to the couch he looked down on the taller man. "Did you finish your article?"

"Not yet. But I don't have to turn it in before the day after tomorrow," Duo answered without taking his eyes off the television.

"Weren't you almost done?" Wufei questioned with his arms crossed like a disapproving mother.

"Mmhm, but I've got the time."

Wufei sighed. "Why don't you just finish it now so you don't have to sit up all night the day before like you always do."

Duo shrugged without taking his eyes of the screen.

Wufei groaned. "Oh, for god's sake. Go get your laptop and finish it."

"But I'm watching TV," Duo protested, gesticulating towards the Star Trek episode that even Wufei had seen at least four times.

"You've got it on DVD, now get moving."

Duo grumbled but did as he was told.

Wufei laughed. "If I'd have known that all I had to do to get you to do as I say was to date you, I would had done it years ago. Imagine the grades you could have had."

Duo's only answer was to give him the finger. Wufei snickered and sat down to watch Star Trek.

-:-:-:-.:-:-:-:-:-

Five days later, Wufei was standing alone in the middle of his own art show, looking at all the people around him. He could hardly believe it, but he hadn't felt this good about showing his art in a very long time... if ever.

He didn't care what people thought about them, he didn't care if anyone understood them or even bought them. These were pictures from his happiest times and he was proud of them. Usually he would try to avoid people's reactions to his paintings. He didn't want to hear their psychoanalysis and assumptions about him. People usually paid for his pain, but not this time, this time it was all about his happiness.

Lincy walked up to him with a small sigh as she looked out over the crowded room. "Well... I don't know what to say, Wufei. People seem to like them but I don't think anyone is going to buy anything."

Wufei just shrugged. He was far too happy to care.

"What's up with you, anyway? There isn't a single painting in your usual style. Don't tell me that you're going to stop painting like you did before, because I need to pay my bills, you know."

Wufei shook his head. "I haven't stopped... I don't think I can, but right now I feel too good to paint in my 'usual' style."

The blonde patted his arm. "Well good for you, but what ever you do, don't you dare leave early like you almost always do. There is still a chance that a representative from Mariette de Fortescue's Art could show up."

Wufei rolled his eyes. Lincy always hoped that one of the scouts from the large art dealing company would show up, but so far there hadn't been a single one.

"Don't give me that," she hissed. "If you ever want to hit it big we have to get our foot in to the major companies."

"Yes, Lincy."

"And for that I need you to make a good impression if someone shows up. Since they probably won't introduce themselves as representatives, you are going to have to give all you've got to everyone," she poked him in the chest with a long red nail.

"Yes, Lincy."

"And don't just stand around like a idiot. Go get some champagne, I don't care if you don't drink it but you can at least pretend."

"Yes, Lincy."

"And stop saying 'yes Lincy' because god knows that you were not that agreeable while we were dating."

Wufei snickered. "Yes, Lincy."

"Good, now off with you. And don't you dare go hide in the bathroom."

"I only did that once," was his somewhat whiny protest.

"Yeah, and I had to get the janitor to unlock the door because you refused to come out."

"It was my first big show, I was nervous," Wufei tried to defend himself.

"Normal people don't spend two hours sitting on the floor next to the toilet on the phone with a friend on the most important night of their career."

Wufei felt himself start to blush. "Well the show went fine even without me, didn't it?"

Lincy gave him a halfhearted glare. "Only because I busted my ass off covering for you."

Wufei smirked. "But I made it up to you later that night didn't I?"

Lincy threw her hands in the air. "Men! You are so full of yourself."

"I'm not hearing any protests," Wufei teased.

Lincy made her curly blond hair jump with a dramatic flick of her hand. "Shut up and go mingle."

Wufei chuckled as he watched her walk away on her red, spiked heels. He took a second to admire her tight round ass and her long beautiful legs. She was as hot as ever but thank god that they had broken up years ago. They would have killed each other slowly if they hadn't. Now the arguments were mostly just for show.

Turning around, Wufei set his eyes on the table where the champagne was being poured and set out to do what he had to do.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Later that night Wufei sighed as he closed the door to Lincy's guest room behind him. He bent down to put his toothbrush back in his bag and unpacked the clothes for the next day.

Everything was quiet except for the muffled sound of Lincy's snoring from the other side of the wall. "Damn, she's worse than David," he mumbled as he stood back up again.

The day had been long and demanding and he was glad that it was over. He was grateful that it was only expected of the artist to show up on the opening and not the whole exhibition, he wouldn't have survived otherwise. There had been a lot of his... he wouldn't call them fans, but he had a group of people that followed his work that had showed up at the show. A few of them had come up to him to question this 'new style' of his. They had been disappointed by the whole thing, and one woman had even been close to tears because she felt like his art was abandoning her. It was all he could do not to yell at all of them to leave him alone and let him be happy.

His hand brushed against the hard lump in his pocket and he took out his cellphone with a slight feeling of relief.

He felt very tempted to call Duo and tell him all about the exhibitions and all that had happened, but he hesitated. He had mostly grown out of his habit of calling Duo for every little thing, but he now he once again felt the need to hear his friend's voice. Back when he had moved to New York he had tried to cut down on his calls since he knew that Duo had his own life to live without him around, but it had been hard.

He admit that he had gotten a bit spoiled since he knew that no matter what Duo was doing he would drop everything to answer his call.

Wufei shook his head and wondered how on earth he could have missed Duo's feelings for him.

Someone who ditched going to a Metallica concert so that he could talk him through his creative anxiety wasn't just doing it to be a good friend. Wufei remembered how angry he had been at himself when he found out that little piece of information through Meilan. She hadn't known why Duo had missed it but with a quick internet search to find out the date of the concert it had been obvious what the reason had been. That had been final nail in the coffin that made him try to quit bothering his friend. Duo's answer to the question if he was busy was always 'nothing important' and Wufei learned to ignore it.

And now, once again back in New York, he wanted nothing else then to talk to him. Wufei looked down on Duo's number on the display. He shouldn't call. It was late and Duo had work in the morning so he was probably already in bed. He should just get undressed and go to sleep, but before he knew what he was doing, his thumb had pressed the call button and the tone rung out. He looked down on the blinking words _'calling Duo'_ in surprise.

'Shit,' was all he had time to think before he heard Duo's voice. He put the phone to his ear and cleared his throat. "Ehm, hey. Sorry, I didn't mean to call. Were you asleep?"

"Mmm, not really. Just drowsing. So what's up?" Duo's lazy voice asked.

"Oh, um. Not much, just got back from the show," he slowly sat down on the bed and kicked his shoes off.

"How did it go?"

Wufei closed his eyes for a second as he listened to the sound of rustling bedclothes in the background. He could just see Duo in front of him, lying curled up on his side with the cover up all the way to his eyes. "I haven't decided yet. On one hand I only sold one painting and a lot of the regulars hated it, but on the other, I haven't ever been so... I don't know, happy with the way it all turned out."

"That's great Wu, as long as you are happy then nothing is wrong. What everyone else thinks comes second, if at all."

Wufei unbuttoned the top buttons on his shirt. "Thanks."

"But I am sorry that you didn't get to sell your paintings. Maybe you just need to find the right people that appreciate them."

"Yeah, maybe," Wufei sighed tirdly and fell back on the bed.

"But at least someone liked it, that's always something. What painting did you sell?"

"'From Above.'"

"Was that the one that looked like a snow storm?" His friend mumbled in question.

"Yes, that's the one."

Duo yawned. "That one was pretty nice."

Wufei yawned. "Thanks, the guy that bought it said he was going to hang it above his bed. Said it reminded him of his wife who had died."

Duo yawned. "That's nice. Must feel good to know that you made someone happy with your work."

"Yeah," Wufei yawned and pushed himself up slightly so that he could lie down properly on the bed.

"How did-" Duo cut himself off with a yawn before continuing. "-the rest go?"

"Good, Lincy bugged me as usual."

Duo's tired laughter rang out from the small earpiece; something that made Wufei's chest go a little tight and he rolled himself over on top of the cover. If he closed his eyes he could almost imagine that Duo was lying there next to him on the bed.

"I have to meet this Lincy sometime."

"Mhmm, maybe you can defend me from her." Wufei mumbled.

"Mmm, sure," was Duo's sleepy response.

"Are you tired?" Wufei asked, suddenly feeling a bit guilty for keeping his friend awake. "Maybe I should let you sleep."

"No, It's fine." The long yawn that followed said otherwise but Wufei didn't comment. Taking a hold of the edge of the cover, he threw the part that he wasn't lying on over himself.

"How was your day?" he asked quietly.

"Mmm pretty good. Got to write about the town's history a bit."

Rearranging the phone against his ear, Wufei curled up tighter. "That's nice."

"Mmmhmm."

"Mmm."

Wufei felt himself melting into the bed and his shoulders slowly started to relax. He hadn't even been aware that they had been tensed. Everything was quiet except for Duo's calm breathing through the phone. It was strangely peaceful.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Someone was calling his name from far away, making Wufei groan in protest.

"Wuuuuu! Come on, wake up! I can hear you, you know."

Wufei slowly peered around the room but couldn't find the source of the voice. The sun was shining in, leaving a long sunspot over the bed.

"Wuuuuuuuuuuuu!!"

Wufei blinked and pulled his cellphone out from under his head. "Hallo," he mumbled and rubbed his head from where the hard edges had cut in to his skin.

"Good morning. I do believe that you are going to get one hell of a phone bill," Duo laughed.

"Whhhat?" Wufei yawned.

"We fell asleep with our phones still on and that would be about... seven hours ago."

"Oops," he mumbled and pulled the cover up over his head to escape the sun.

"Well, anyway. Just wanted to say good morning and goodbye because I have to go to work soon."

"Oh, the same."

"Yeah... hey Wu?"

"Mmhmm."

"Thanks for calling me last night, it was nice to hear your voice."

"Even if I woke you up?" he asked and rubbed some dried flakes of the side of his mouth where he obviously had drooled sometime in the night.

"Even then. Well, ehmm, I have to go. Have a nice day, love you, bye." With that he hung up before Wufei had even collected enough brainpower to respond, never mind open his mouth. But that might just be as well, he realized, because as the response 'love you too' worked it's way to his tongue; he didn't know if it was just a reflex or if he really meant it.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

That was it for now. Thank you for reading and please, please review.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

With a tired sigh, Wufei closed the front door behind him. Shrugging his jacket off he let it fall to the floor next to his bag. Unable to do much else for the moment, he rested his head against the door. The trip back from New York had been hell, absolute hell, with extremely late planes, mixed up reservations and obnoxious passengers that wouldn't shut up for five fucking minutes and let him sleep. The airport had lost one of his bags, making him run around all over the place trying to find someone who could help him, only to be made to stand in line for an hour just to write a description of his bag.

He was so damned tired. All he wanted to do was to rant about how bad his day had been to Duo and go to sleep. He opened his mouth to call out to his friend. That was when he noticed the silence in the dark apartment. With blurry eyes he looked down on his watch. It was just a couple of minutes after nine, Duo couldn't have gone to bed all ready, could he?

He walked further into the apartment, not even bothering to turn on the lights. The first thing he noticed was the lack of futon on the floor. So he wasn't sleeping. He walked around the rest of the dark apartment looking for his lost friend, but without results.

Wufei rubbed a hand over his face. "So fucking tired," he mumbled to himself as he tried to think.

Duo could not be at work since Wufei had spoken to him just a few hours earlier, and the other man had told him that he was going to be home just after three. There was no way that he could still be at work.

Fumbling, he managed to get his phone out of his pocket and pressed speed dial 2.

The signal went out twice before a happy voice answered.

"Hey Wu!"

Wufei was tired, hungry and more than a little annoyed, so he simply grunted in response to Duo's cheerful voice. "Where are you?" he mumbled.

"At home."

Wufei looked around the dark apartment. "No you're not." He grumbled.

"... Um, I'm pretty sure that I am."

"No, unless you are hiding in the closet then, no you are not." Wufei argued as he leaned heavily on the kitchen's doorframe.

Duo laughed. "Wu, I'm in MY home, as in my apartment."

Wufei blinked. "Oh." He rubbed his tired eyes. "Shit, I'm sorry."

"God, you're adorable," Duo mumbled. "Give me a few minutes and I'll be right over. Are you hungry?"

Wufei yawned. "Yeah."

"Pizza okay?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be right there. Bye."

Wufei didn't bother to say anything, he just hung up. He knew that he was going to be embarrassed later... when he just was a little bit more alert. Right now he couldn't find the will to care. It was just Duo, after all.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Hey sleepy-head."

Wufei blinked sluggishly and looked over at his best friend's smiling face from where he was kneeling on the floor next to the couch.

He yawned and rubbed a hand over his face. "Hey," he mumbled, not making any move to get up.

Duo smiled. "I bought pizza, sit up for a few minutes, eat and then you can go back to sleep."

Wufei breathed out an agreement before closing his eyes again. He heard Duo snicker before a large hand stroked the back of his head. "I'll get some plates," Duo said softly.

By the time Duo came back, Wufei had been able to push himself up in what could be taken for an upright posture.

Duo held a plate out to him and Wufei couldn't help but smile when he saw the pineapple-tuna-banana pizza with extra onions.

"I thought you needed some cheering up," Duo said as he dropped down next to him on the couch with his own boring extra cheese pizza. Wufei didn't respond at first since he was too busy stuffing his face, but as soon as he was able to speak again he leaned over and planted a sloppy kiss just bellow Duo's eye. "Thanks."

By the smile on Duo's face you could almost think that Wufei had given him backstage passes to a Rammstein concert.

It was almost scary how easy it was to please Duo. A kiss, a package of ice cream and an action movie would make Duo as happy as could be.

Wufei suddenly realized that he would never have to feel unromantic or unimaginative when Duo's birthday came along. He would never feel worried when Valentines Day came up on the calendar. He would never have to feel nervous to meet Duo's parents, would never have to play nice with Duo's friends. Duo was never going to complain about his clothes or his hair. He wouldn't care it he hadn't cleaned or if the dishes started to pile up on the counter. Hell, he would probably encourage it.

Duo would never think that he was boring because he'd rather stay home than go out. Wufei would never have to hide that he was having a bad day or if he was feeling down. Duo would never make him feel worthless and Wufei would never have to watch what he said around Duo. Because Duo knew him, he knew him better then any other human on the planet. He probably knew Wufei better than he did himself.

Having a relationship with his best friend was probably the smartest thing he had ever done.

Wufei grinned around his pizza slice.

"What?" Duo asked in amusement. "You look like an idiot, what's up?"

Wufei just chewed and shrugged his shoulders with an innocent smile on his face.

Duo snorted before reaching for the remote control. After working his way through all the channels, he stopped on a Stargate re-run. Making themselves comfortable they sat back to enjoy their evening, sitting just a little too close for two friends to sit.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Marie's firm breasts were pushed up against Wufei's chest as he laid himself down on top of her on the bed. She was kissing and licking his neck as he pushed his cock into her wet pussy. She was moaning and telling him about all the dirty things she wanted them to do. Wufei was thrusting himself in to her, again, and again. Her pussy was hot and tight around him, squeezing him just right. Red nails were digging in to his back and her pierced tongue flickered against his own. It was hot - so hot. It felt good - so good. "I've been wanting to do this for years." Duo whispered into his ear before biting down -hard- on his neck. Wufei whimpered, groaned and hissed as sharp teeth gripped him tightly. Duo was wrapping his long legs around his waist, pulling him closer, making Wufei's cock slide deeper into him. Wufei fucked him faster, deeper, harder, harder, harder while Duo was panting, whimpering, begging him to continue, begging him for harder, deeper, faster with his hair spread out over his naked body. Duo trashed underneath him, pulling him in closer, squeezing around his cock, smiling wickedly before wrapping his lips around his cock and sucking it hard. The smooth piercing rubbed against the head of his cock, moaning, fucking Duo's mouth while the braided man urged him on. 'Do it Fei, just like that, don't hold back. Give it all Fei. Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuckmefuckmefuckmefuckme-'

Wufei woke up panting, his cock so hard it hurt.

"Shit." A shaky hand flicked away some sweat from his brows. "Shit." He repeated softly to himself. He took a look around. He was lying on the couch, with his legs that had been lying on the table, now stretched out on the couch. He must have fallen asleep because the room was dark and so was the TV. Duo's futon was spread out on the floor and had obviously been slept in. There was no other sight of Duo except for the blanket that was spread out over him. He sent a quick thank you to a god that he didn't believe in that Duo hadn't been in the room while he was dreaming. That would have been embarrassing. But where was Duo?

As if to answer his question there was a sound from the kitchen. It sounded like someone was opening the fridge.

'What the hell is he up to in the middle of the night?' Wufei thought with a frown. He looked down on his lap and established that his cock had gone down enough for him to get up and find out.

Opening the kitchen door he took a look around the badly lit room. The only light was coming from above the counter and the open fridge from where the head of his friend could be seen over the top of the door.

"What are you doing?" He reached out and flipped the switch.

Duo looked up. "Oh, hi. Do you have any blueberries?"

Wufei just stared. "What? Why?"

"I'm making muffins," Duo said as if it was obvious.

Wufei blinked with tired eyes as he took in the sight of his friend where he was bent over half way in to the fridge dressed only in his underwear and a thin t-shirt. "But why?"

"It's all your fault anyway," Duo grumbled and pushed some loose hair in behind his ear.

"And why is that?" Wufei asked with a yawn as he stepped in to the kitchen.

"You were talking in your sleep."

Wufei could feel a cold shiver run down his back. "Oh?" he choked out. 'Oh, god. This is so embarrassing.'

"Yeah, you asked me if I wanted a muffin."

Wufei stumbled and almost lost his footing in relief. "I asked you if you wanted a muffin?"

Duo snickered and pulled out a frozen chicken to look behind it. "Yeah, it was funny as hell. At first I thought you were having a wet dream or something but then it turned you were just eating pastry."

Wufei closed his eyes for a second. 'Muffins were the last thing on my mind.'

"I already have the mixture ready." Duo gesticulated towards the counter where a sticky bowl was standing next to a baking tin. "I just want blueberries in it." He pulled out another frozen chicken. "Do you have any?... And why do you have so much frozen chicken?"

"They were on sale." He mumbled as he made his way over to his friend. "There should be a bag of them in there somewhere."

"Yeah, well I can't find any." Duo said as he bent over to search through the bottom shelf. His t-shirt started sliding and Wufei suddenly became very aware of the fact that Duo's boxer briefs were very tight and left nothing to the imagination. The edge had been pushed up at one side and was showing off a set of well trained buttocks with a couple of birthmarks making a trail up towards the elastic edge. Wufei wanted to find out if there were more of them.

"Well?"

Wufei startled and ripped his eyes away from his friend's ass. "What?"

"Where are they?" Duo asked and put the chicken back.

"Ehm, they should be on the second shelf."

"Mmm, no. I've already checked."

Wufei, who knew from experience that Duo was pretty worthless at finding things, stepped closer and took a look over his shoulder. It only took him a second to find the bag of berries.

"They're right there."

"Where?" Duo asked and scratched his back, making the t-shirt slide back down.

Wufei once again ripped his eyes away from his friend and back to the fridge. "There, next to the peas." He leaned forward and pointed in to the freezer. The cold rolled over his arm and upper chest, but other parts of his body were feeling anything but cold. His hip was inches away from Duo's and he could feel the heat rolling off the other man. His fingers were twitching to push themselves in under the edge of that thin t-shirt, to take a hold of that waist and pull it toward him, to thrust his hip against that tight ass. To pull down those tight boxer briefs and '_'Do it Fei, just like that, don't hold back. Give it all Fei. Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuckmefuckmefuckmefuckme_.''

Wufei could feel himself hardening again.

"Ah! There." Duo pulled out the bag of frozen blueberries and straightened out. Wufei turned on his heel, trying desperately to hide the tent in his lose pants. "Cold! I'm- ehm…going to put on some more clothes," he stuttered.

"Eh... Okay," came Duo's surprised response from behind him as he hurried into his bedroom.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Thumping his head into his closet door Wufei tried to calm down.

This was probably a good thing right? They were trying to have a relationship and people in relationships had a sexual interest in each other. If only the whole thing hadn't been so damned awkward. Everything was new and more than a little scary. Especially if he stopped to think about it, something that he rarely did because he knew that if he did, he was going to freak out again.

Wufei took a deep breath and straightened up. Getting his robe off the hook on the inside of the closet, he shrugged it on and returned to the kitchen.

Duo was sitting on the floor in front of the oven.

"How do they look?" Wufei asked as he walked over to him.

Duo shrugged. "Sticky. They're going to need at least twenty minutes until they're ready."

Wufei yawned and sat down next to his friend.

"You're out of flour... and sugar... and eggs," Duo said as he brushed what looked like flour away from his braid.

Wufei blinked. "But I just bought eggs. You can't have used up twelve eggs to make muffins."

"Sure I can. I kind of dropped a couple, then I put too much baking soda into the first batch I made so I had to make another one."

Wufei yawed. "Well, we are just going to have to go shopping tomorrow then."

Duo nodded.

They stared at the muffins.

The floor was a bit cold and Wufei got up to get a blanket from the living room. Carefully folding it, he placed it on the floor and the both of them sat back down again.

They stared at the muffins.

"How much longer is it?" Wufei asked, because those muffins sure smelled really good right then.

Duo looked down on his watch. "Just a few more minutes."

They stared at the muffins.

If the muffins could, they would probably have stared back.

Duo's watch made a low beeping sound and the two men quickly got to their feet. Wufei went over to the refrigerator to get some milk. You could not eat muffins right out of the oven without it.

Wufei turned around and looked over at Duo who was placing the baking tin on the stove. He wished that he hadn't since Duo for some reason had used his t-shirt to take the muffins out of the oven. Flashes of his dream played out before his eyes as he tried not to stare at his friend's naked chest.

"I have pot-holders you know," Wufei choked out.

"Well if you didn't arrange your kitchen so no one could find anything then I would have used them." Duo shot back.

Wufei didn't say anything. He just pointed at the large colourful pot-holders hanging next to the oven.

Duo blinked and stuck his tongue out. "Shut up. Do you want any muffins or what?"

And just like that Wufei could feel all the awkwardness that he felt running out of him. "Of course I do. Do you want some milk?"

Duo nodded as he picked up a hot muffin and started to throw it between his hands.

Together they sat down to enjoy their midnight snack.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The doors slid open and the two friends walked in to the store. Armed with shopping baskets they were ready to meet just about anything.

"So, what are we having?" Duo asked as he looked down the first aisle.

Wufei looked down on his list. "Milk, flour, curry, apples, baking soda, corn, broccoli, eggs, margarine, tomatoes, cheese-"

"Bla bla bla, dessert and take out," Duo cut in with a grin as he strolled down the aisle.

Wufei snorted. "We ate take out yesterday."

"So?" Duo asked with laughter in his eyes that told Wufei that he did know why, he just liked to ruffle Wufei's feathers.

Suppressing a smile, he mock glared at his friend. "It's not healthy. The amount of fat that they use to make it is far beyond what the body needs."

"But it's so good and-, ooooh, chocolate pudding!" Duo lit up in delight as he dropped the colourful box in to his basket.

"We need food, not dessert," Wufei protested but made no move to stop him.

Duo ignored him. "We need something sweet since we're out of ice cream."

Wufei frowned. "That's impossible; we have a whole box in the fridge."

"No, we don't. I got bored while you were gone and ate it," Duo informed him lightly as he swung his shopping basked from side to side.

"The whole box?! What are you, fifteen?"

"No, I just started eating until I hit the bottom."

Wufei rubbed a hand over his face with a laugh. "Unbelievable. Well, we still need some food."

"Sure thing, Fei," Duo said and turned his steps towards the fast food section.

"Food that isn't heated in the microwave."

Duo pouted. "Awww, but it's so fast and easy."

"Yeah, just like you," Wufei shot back.

Duo laughed. "Yeah, fast, easy and oh, so good." The last part was purred in to his ear as Duo bent down slightly to nibble his ear.

Wufei laughed and pushed him away. "Loon, come on. Let's find the things on the list so we can leave."

"Sure, hey, can we get chips?" he asked as he rested the shopping basket on his hip.

"No."

"But why?" Duo whined.

"You know why," Wufei said as he started walking so Duo couldn't see the smile on his face.

"But it's so gooood," Duo argued.

"But it's not good for you," Wufei replied, shoving him towards the fruit and vegetable section.

"But it tastes good."

"But it's not good for you."

"It tastes good."

"It makes you fat."

Duo grinned. "Does not."

"Don't be an idiot, of course it does."

"No way, I've eaten tons of chips and just look at this stomach!" Duo pulled up his t-shirt, flashing his front to Wufei and a couple of old ladies further down the aisle.

"That's nice," Wufei mumbled as he pretended to read the list of contents on the back of a can. "Do you have any other genius evidence?"

"I could show you my ass."

"Please don't, I want to be able to do my shopping in this store again."

"What, embarrassed?" Duo leered, clearly thinking about ways that he could publicly humiliate him.

Wufei gave his friend a bored look. "Hardly, but if they ban us I'm going to have to walk all the way down to High street to shop."

Duo gasped dramatically. "We can't have that, now can we?"

Wufei shook his head. "No, now be a good boy and go get some eggs."

"Yes sir," Duo said loudly in a scared tone, making the old ladies give Wufei a disapproving look, before he literally ran off.

Wufei just sighed. Duo on a sugar high really was a sight to see. The other man had eaten all the left over muffins before they left, claiming that the muffins were feeling lonely and that he was helping them to kill themselves.

Wufei translated the whole thing to, 'not enough sleep and too much sugar.'

-:-:-:-:-:- 

When they finally managed to make it to the check out, Wufei clearly remembered why he always shopped alone. It was faster and it was a hell of a lot cheaper. Especially since Duo had insisted on buying just about everything that struck his fancy. But at least he had managed to talk him out of buying the twenty chocolate bars that he needed to buy to get an ugly t-shirt.

Duo was quietly reading a magazine behind him and Wufei tiredly shifted his weight. He hated waiting, especially in lines.

Then something caught his attention.

Wufei gave the guy in front of him a searching look. It was just something about him. Something about the way he held himself, the way he smiled, the way he accepted his change and the way he walked. Something that told you that he was a-

"Fucking faggot," a voice grumbled from behind them. The words sent a shiver down Wufei's spine.

"Yeah?" Duo spoke up and turned to look down at the middle age man standing behind them.

The man startled and gaped as he looked at the happily smiling Duo.

"Did you want something?" Duo asked sweetly, making Wufei snort.

The man looked from Wufei's grim face up to Duo's smiling one that had a dangerous glint in those dark blue eyes.

"No, nothing," the man denied.

"Oh, I just thought that since you wanted to speak to a fucking faggot, you wanted to speak to me," Duo replied loudly, still smiling happily.

The man looked really uncomfortable as he nervously looked around. Several people in the line were giving the man disapproving looks and the old woman that Duo had flashed earlier looked ready to rip the guy's spine out.

"Now, let me give you a piece of advice, don't throw the faggot word around, you never know who might take offence." Duo gave the man a cold grin as he stepped up to him, making it even more obvious how much bigger Duo was. "It's just a word of advice."

The man jerked his head in a parody of a nod. Duo reached out and slapped the man on the shoulder. "That's good." He then dismissed the man and turned to the woman behind the counter. "Right, now it's time for Wu-babe to be a good sugar daddy and pay for the food."

Wufei rolled his eyes and did as he was told. They packed their bags without once glancing at the man behind them. Well outside Duo snorted in laughter. "Some people, I tell you. Did you see the look on his face when I first spoke to him?"

Wufei smiled like a proud parent would smile at their child's messy finger paintings. "Yes Duo, I saw."

The braided man just about bounced down the street with the shopping back swinging from his hand. "It was great wasn't it? Man, I wish I had a camera. I could have framed it and put it on the wall in my living room. I would have called it 'Narrow minded jerk in shock.' What do you think? Maybe I should be an artist too."

Wufei smiled and laced their fingers together. "I think you can do anything you want to do."

Duo's bangs tickled his face as Duo bent down to kiss him right between the eyes. "And I think you are turning into a complete sap. But hey, I don't mind. Maybe it will even get you to shut up during my Star trek."

Wufei laughed. "Sorry. I don't think that's possible, but I could try."

Duo gave him a soft smile. "That's all I'm asking for."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N

Right then, that was all for now. Please, spare a minute to leave me a review. Please?

Now on to something else. I have decided something. I have too many WIP's and I refuse to be one of those authors who can't ever finish what they have started. The solution? I have started up a poll where I ask the question "Which fiction do you want me to finish first?" (I have included my off site fanfiction's too) Since only the people that actually cares takes the time to vote, your vote will make a difference. So far the battle is standing between "Normal people" and "My dark eyed wallflower." Go make your voice heard : )


	11. Chapter 11

I am so _sorry_ that it took me so long to update this story (over two years!). This story ended up on second place in the poll I made, but in the end I totally lost my inspiration and worked on basically everything but this.

I can almost not believe I managed to get back on track.

I would like to thank Shinigamiinochi for beta reading, W. for her encouragement, Darkrevenge for her spamming ;) Syndelar for urging me on and Stratagirl for making my day brighter.

Also, I'm going to re-write the first couple of chapters for the simple reason that they suck ass. I'm not going to take the whole thing down because I hate it when authors do that but one by one, the chapters will be replaced. So if you for some strange reason went to keep the sucky chapters, this is the time to copy paste.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Chapter 11

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Wufei woke up as someone hit him not so gently in the shoulder. With blurry eyes he looked up at the shape standing next to his bed. Or at least what he could see of it in the dim light.

"Move over, the futon is killing my back." Duo grumbled, his pillow trapped under one arm while the other held on to the trailing duvet.

Wufei shuffled over, dimly grateful that he had a pretty big bed. He felt the mattress dip as Duo settled in and seconds later he was asleep again.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The next time he woke up it was with Duo's head snuggled up against his shoulder. A hand was resting on his stomach and their legs were slightly entwisted.

They might have shared a sleeping bag once, but this somehow felt more intimate. This was his bed after all.

It was too warm and he felt sticky with sweat in the places their bodies were touching. Sleeping with Duo was lying next to a generator. Which had been nice in the middle of the forest but there under the thick duvet, it was far too hot.

In the distance he could hear a faint beeping that he couldn't identify.

It took him a couple of seconds before he recognized the distant noise as Duo's alarm clock in the living room. It had most likely been ringing for a while since Duo, according to his own clock, should have gotten up about forty five minutes ago.

"Duo." He shook the shoulder next to his stomach. "You have to get up."

His friend frowned unhappily, pushing his face into his armpit and shuffling closer.

Wufei was suddenly very aware that something was pushing against his leg.

He shifted uneasily.

There was a cock pressed against his leg. A gay cock. A hard gay cock.

Anxiety twisted in his stomach and Wufei had to close his eyes for a moment to calm down. 'It's okay, it's just Duo.'

The clock had stopped ringing, and probably wouldn't start again. Duo really needed to get up now.

Using his knees he tried to push the heavy body off. Duo just grumbled under his breath, clearly not ready to go anywhere.

"Duo, you're going to be late."

There was a pause. "Whaaa?"

"You. Late. Work." Wufei grunted, tipping his friend off and over on his side.

His friend blinked heavily. Once. Twice. "Shit!" Duo throw the duvet off as he scrambled out of the bed.

Wufei listened absently to Duo's desperate fumbling and the hurried "Bye" that was thrown his way before the front door was slammed closed behind him.

Wufei stayed there for a moment, staring up at the ceiling.

He could still feel the almost echo-like pressure against his leg. It was slightly terrifying.

He wondered if this really was something that he would be able to do. Could he really take this thing all the way?

He could hear Duo whisper in the back of his head that he was thinking too much again.

And he was. The thoughts were rushing though his mind and he could feel the anxiety building up. Crawling up inside of him and taking him over.

NO.

Not again. He wasn't going to let himself be controlled by this.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and fought for control.

For once he was going to try not to worry. He wasn't going to analyze anything. He was just going to take whatever was thrown his way. It was most likely going to be awkward every now and then but they were going to work their way through it. Together.

With that in mind, he rolled out of bed and started doing his morning pushups.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The awkwardness that Wufei had been waiting for didn't show its ugly head until the next evening.

The futon was still lying on the living room floor.

Duo stood in the middle of the dim room, seeming to hesitate.

Wufei leaned forward against the doorframe, his cheek resting against the wood. "Do you…" he started only to stop when he met Duo's eyes.

There was a moment of tense silence.

Duo uneasily rubbed his arm, glancing over to the bedding on the floor. "I'll just stay out here."

Wufei opened his mouth to speak but he didn't know what to say. Instead, he nodded and, after a quick hesitation, he turned back to his bedroom.

It was nice to crawl in between cool sheets. To not have anyone heating them up to an uncomfortable level. It was also very nice to be able to twist and turn however he wanted without worrying that he was going to jab someone. The room was blissfully quiet. No moving around, no one breathing in his ear. Just perfect calmness.

Wufei stared up at the ceiling, wide awake.

He wondered if Duo's back was hurting.

He wondered if Duo felt rejected for sleeping in the living room.

He wondered…

He wondered how it would be to have Duo with him.

The clock ticked on. Everything was quiet.

Too quiet.

Making his first active try to not analyze what he was doing, Wufei slipped out of bed. With quiet steps he walked towards the open bedroom door.

The living room was dark and quiet. Gripping the door handle he hesitated for a moment, listening to his own shallow breathing. "Duo?" He spoke up quietly.

"Yeah?" Was the almost instant answer.

He couldn't see his friend out there in the dark. It was unsettling.

"Come to bed."

He went back to his room and hurried in under the covers. A couple of seconds passed then Duo was there, standing at the edge of the bed with his pillow up against his chest. Like a kid who was scared of the monsters under the bed, Duo quickly crawled in, settling in next to him.

They didn't speak.

It was getting too warm again and Wufei found himself listening to Duo's breathing, annoyed that his own breathing was trying but failing to adapt to the rhythm. This was a bad idea. He was never going to be able to fall asleep like this.

A minute later he was out like a light.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

From there on, Duo spent every night in his bed.

Wufei didn't really mind. Duo was a pretty heavy sleeper and he didn't snore like some of his old girlfriends, Lincy being the worst of the bunch. The slightly awkward morning part had thankfully not been repeated since he usually woke when Duo rolled off him and silenced the alarm.

Half asleep, he would linger under the warm duvet while Duo got ready. Absently listening as his friend stumbled around, opening and closing doors and the heavy steam of piss hitting the porcelain side of the toilet. The flush that followed made the old pipes thump like a creaking heartbeat. Padding footsteps and tired fumbling. Then when he heard the microwave start running he got up to start his day.

It was nice to be home again and to get back into his routines that his trip had disturbed.

He was now keeping 'Duo time' again so to say. They got up early, ate breakfast together before Duo went back to work and he did whatever he felt like doing that day. He rarely had lunch except for the times when Duo would come over during his break and they would eat together. Then during the afternoon, Wufei would start planning his cooking and would have dinner ready by the time Duo came back from work.

It was nice, it gave his days a structure that he hadn't been aware that he was missing.

When you were alone, you had a way of creating bad habits and living a bit like a slob. It had driven Marie absolutely crazy whenever she had come over to see the dishes pile on the counter and the laundry basket over flowing several times over. She had threatened to move in on several occasions because the place apparently needed a female touch.

But with Duo there it was never a problem. Wufei found himself cleaning up after himself and preparing meals in a way that he had never done before. Not because he thought Duo would disprove of the mess or would say a word if there wasn't a thing to eat in the whole apartment. It just felt… nice to do it. To make sure that everything was where it was supposed to be, that Duo had clean clothes for the next day and that there was food on the table when his friend got home.

At the moment, he had a gratin in the oven and was in the middle of vacuuming the floor. In the bathroom, the washing machine was rumbling happily since he had noticed that Duo only had a couple of clean pair of underwear left.

He took care to make sure to get all the rugs clean and bent down low to really reach under the couch. A sudden slurping sound, then the vacuum cleanlier suddenly started wheezing like it was suffocating.

"Damn it." He muttered as he shut it off with his foot. Something had clearly gotten stuck in the pipe. With a grumble he detached it and tried to peer down the darkness.

The phone on the table next to him started ringing.

"Chang." He answered absently as he jammed it in between his chin and his shoulder. With determination, he tried to wiggle his fingers in deep into the pipe.

"Hey, it's me."

His fingers were too short so he tried to shake it loose. "What can I do for you David?" He responded as he tried to get his fingers into the hole again. Without any results.

"Bored, do you want to join me at the gym?"

Wufei knocked the pipe against the rug in a wane hope that whatever had gotten stuck in there would fall out. "Can't, have dinner on the way."

"So? Just finish it when you get back."

He thumped the pipe straight down another couple of times. "Nah, Duo gets home from work in about an hour." He lifted the pipe up towards the light, trying to peek down it again. He could see the faint shape of something in there. It hadn't gotten far before it had gotten stuck so it shouldn't be all that hard to get it out.

David snickered. "So you have dinner on the table for him then?"

He tried thumping the pipe downwards again. It didn't appear to help. He should probably find something long to poke it out with. "Yeah, should be done a while before he gets home but it will stay warm." Wufei mumbled absently. He found an abandoned paintbrush lying by the phone holder that he with great concentration used to poke around in the vacuum pipe. There was something stuck in there, something soft. He could feel it. He just needed to get a hold of it.

"You sound like a house wife." David laughed. "Are you going to fetch his slippers and rub his feet too?"

Wufei grinned in triumph as he managed to pull out a small dusty teddy bear that could usually be found hanging off Duo's key chain. It was so worn that it barely had any fur left and one of the ears were missing.

"I bet Duo's living like a king with you to wait on him."

Wufei brushed the bear clean, noting that the hoop on top its head had fallen off. "Hm." He could fix that. He wasn't totally useless with a needle and thread. He could probably find something a bit stronger to use as a hoop so that it wouldn't fall off again. Duo was really fond of this bear and would probably be disappointed if he couldn't use it anymore.

"Well you better be a good little wife then, we can go to the gym tomorrow."

If Wufei remembered correctly, the bear was something that he had bought as a gift on Duo's… sixth or seven birthday. If he wasn't totally mistaken, it used to hold on to a stuffed heart with the words 'best friend'. He wasn't surprised that it had fallen off. Considering how old it was, it was a wonder it was even holding together. The phone on his shoulder started slipping, reminding Wufei that someone was talking to him. "Sorry, wasn't paying attention, what were you saying?"

"Gym. Tomorrow." David said, sounding amused.

"Oh? Okay." He blinked as David sighed and hung up without another word. What was up with him?

With a shrug he pushed the bear into the pocket of the large hoodie he had borrowed from Duo and went back to vacuuming.

When he was done, he was going to prepare a salad. One with a lot of chopped cucumber in it. Duo liked cucumbers.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Duo sighed and glanced at his watch. Just one more hour, then he would get to leave.

He had been assigned to fix another one of Denise's articles. How someone who had such a bad grasp of grammar could become a reporter was for him a mystery.

Granted, the paper wasn't the biggest, barely more than a local newspaper. But still, she had managed to make the headline to an article about a local dog show sound like very freaky sex.

'Doggy Style for the Whole Family' was entertaining if nothing else, but it quickly got old.

He glanced at his watch again.

He wanted to go home.

Sometimes he couldn't believe that he had actually taken this piece of shit job. But it had its perks. The coffee was good and, best of all, he was back in town.

He admitted, if only to himself, that as soon as Wufei had told him that he was going to move back home, he had started to make plans to do the same.

Living without Wufei around was possible, but it wasn't fun. And even when he had thought he was over Wufei, he had wanted to do everything he could to be around him.

He looked at his watch. Damn, time moved far too slowly.

He tried to focus on the awful errors in front of him on the screen but it didn't take long before his mind started to drift.

Wufei was probably in the middle of dinner right now. Moving gracefully between the refrigerator, the counter, and the stove. Chopping, steering and mixing. He could imagine Wufei humming along to the radio, his attention never straying from his task.

He wished he was there to see it.

Maybe he should call and ask if he needed anything from the store? Yeah, he could do that.

Turning away from the computer, he picked up his phone and made the call.

It took a couple of seconds, then Wufei's voice drifted through the line, wrapping itself around him.

"Hey, I was just wondering if you want me to stop by the store on the way home." Duo said.

Wufei made a thoughtful sound. "Let me check."

Duo leaned forward with his elbows on the desk, listening as Wufei shuffled over to the refrigerator. Glass jars rattled as the door opened and he could hear things being moved around. In the background soft music was playing.

"Nah, I think we have everything."

Duo pushed some loose staples on his desk together into a pile, leaning his head against his hand. "So what's for dinner?"

"Curry chicken gratin."

"Yum."

"I thought you'd like it." Wufei said, sounding pleased. "I put in almost double the amount of curry, too."

Duo grinned. "Awesome."

"Mmm." The sound of things being moved around could be heard.

"So what did you do today?" Duo asked, absently playing with his staplers.

"Oh, cleaned the place up a bit, you know." Wufei replied airily.

"That's nice." He said balancing a staple between the table and his forefinger.

"I found your bear by the way."

Duo smiled, sitting up a bit straighter. "You found Bobo? Where was he?"

"Under the couch. He was lucky, the vacuum cleaner almost ate him."

"Aww, poor Bobo."

"Yeah." Wufei chuckled. "He doesn't look all that happy at the moment. I'm going to wash him and try to fix the hoop on his head."

"Would you?" Duo asked gratefully. "That would be great, I've missed him."

Duo could almost feel his friend smile as he responded. "I'm going to give it a try."

"You're the best." Duo said, putting his elbows up on the edge of the table as he cradled the phone with both hands. "I'm going to end up spoiled if you keep this up."

"You're already spoiled."

"Am not." Duo protested happily.

Wufei made a dismissive and slightly rude noise that made Duo laugh.

"Maybe I should spoil you for a change, I owe you a dinner after all." Duo reminded him.

"I think that could be arranged."

"Yeah? This weekend maybe?"

The sound of a cupboard being opened and closed could be heard. "Oh, that sounds acceptable."

"It's a date, then." A polite cough behind Duo made him turn around and look straight up into the sober face of his boss. "Um, right I'll-see-you-later-then-bye." He hung up before Wufei could respond, wondering how much trouble he was in. Mr. Hagler was kind of known for being a bit of a tight ass.

The older man gave him a long look over the edge of his glasses.

Duo could feel himself start to sweat.

"Now, as much as I appreciate young love, do try to keep it off the work hours."

"Yes, sir." Duo responded quickly.

The balding man nodded, a small smile playing at the edge of his lips. "I had planned to give you an assignment over the weekend, but since it appears that you have other plans I'll just go bother someone else with them."

Duo allowed himself to smile. "Thank you." He breathed in relief, happy that he wasn't going to spend his weekend chasing farmers around some fair or interview children about their school projects.

With a pat on the shoulder, the man left his cubical.

Feeling grateful and fortunate, Duo turned back to his work. Denise's grammatical errors really didn't seem so bad anymore.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The next day, Wufei meet David in the parking lot and together they strolled over to the gym.

They made small talk while they changed, mostly about work and his art show. Then his friend started asking the questions he obviously had wanted to ask all along.

"So, everything is working out for you with Duo?" David asked as he adjusted the weights on their first stop.

Wufei bent down to put his water bottle on the floor. "I guess."

David chuckled lightly, shaking his head as he sat down, one leg on either side of the bench. "I got to say, I'm impressed that you seem to be pulling this off."

Wufei shrugged. "Honestly, there isn't much difference since before."

"Except for the kissing and humping in the bathroom." David cut in.

Wufei paused. "Erh, yeah, besides that."

David shivered, running a hand through his shaggy hair. "Man, I just had to bring it up, now the picture is stuck in my head."

Wufei snickered. "Fond of it, are you?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer." David said with a half-hearted glare as he laid down and gripped the hand bar.

"Trust you to walk in at the worst possible time."

"Nah, could have been worse right?" His friend said as he started pulling the bar down, huffing a little at the end before letting it rise again.

Wufei shook his head. "Hardly."

"At least in public." David snickered as he made the weights lift up into the air again.

Wufei gave him an empty look, not following what his friend was talking about.

David lowered the bar, sitting up slightly to look at him. "So you're not… you know." He made a vague motion with his hand that was most likely trying to illustrate some kind of intimate interaction.

"Oh, um no."

David threw him a look as he laid back down. "Are you going to?"

Wufei looked away over to a couple of women lifting weights on the other side of the room. "Trying very hard not to think about that part, actually."

David shook his head and took a hold of the bar again. "I hear ya." He spent a couple of more minutes on the bench before getting off to let Wufei have his turn.

David took a sip from his own water bottle as Wufei adjusted the weights. "The two of you have always been strange, so… I don't know. I guess it makes sense in a kind of fucked up way."

"Thanks." Wufei replied dryly as he laid down and started pulling the bar down.

David snorted. "Duo is a great friend of mine, but there is no way in hell I would ever suck his cock."

Wufei balked and dropped the bar, making the weights slam together. _That_ was something that fitted into the mental file of things that he was not going to be thinking about. Breathing deeply he tried to push down the nausea. He was not going to think about it. He was not thinking about it.

"Hey, you okay?" David asked worriedly, leaning in over him.

"Yeah, fine. Lost my grip."

"That's what happens when you're being a show off and put on so much weight."

Wufei rolled his eyes and gripped the bar again. David's words were still dancing around in his head. Sucking Duo's cock? _No way_. He hadn't thought about it before. He wasn't going to think about it now. Because if he did he knew that he was going to freak out again.

With determination he pulled the bar down again and again, feeling the strain in his muscles. He was not going to freak out again.

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Please take a second to review, it will make me very happy, especially to know if there is still someone out there who has been waiting for this update.


	12. Chapter 12

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Chapter 12

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_FUCK_!

He was late, so fucking late!

Wufei would have hit himself over the head if he had had the time. If there was something Wufei hated then it was to show up late. If he said he was going to show up at a specific time then he was going to be there at that time… unless David was involved of course, because then they would automatically be late.

Duo had told him to come over to his place at five and he'd take him out for the dinner he had promised him for the painting.

Only that he was now almost three hours late. Three _hours_.

You should never be late to a date, NEVER.

God, Duo probably thought that he had stood him up or forgotten about it or maybe that it was another day or-

Why, god _why_ did the phone battery have to run out right now and why hadn't he called Duo from his parents house before he had left and _WHY_ hadn't he asked his father to drive him?

The answer was rather simple but didn't give much comfort.

He had once again been helping his parents sort out the house in an endless battle for space. He had lost track of time and when he had realized he was late, he had been too stressed to think of checking if his phone was working. He didn't want to ask for a ride because then they would ask why he was in a hurry. Wufei wasn't quite ready to tell his parents that he was late for a _date_ with Duo and he was a horrible liar, so that option was out.

Traveling by bus took forever and from there he had to use his feet. A couple of minutes later, Wufei had been forced to admit that Duo was right, he really was a terrible runner and by the time he had reached Duo's building he was exhausted. Pushing himself further he forced himself to take two stairs at a time, not stopping until he reached the fourth floor.

Wufei rang the bell and stepped in all at once with a thousand excuses on the tip of his tongue. He would deliver them as soon as he managed to catch his breath.

Gasping, he stumbled through the hallway, following the sound of upbeat music into the living room.

Duo glanced up at him from his slack position on the couch, a hand controller in a firm grip. "Hey, grab a beer or something would you? I'm close to a boss fight."

Wufei could, for a moment, just stand there panting as he watched Duo focus on his video game. Things weren't happening the way he had imagined it would and it was unsettling, not to mention confusing. In lack of better ideas, Wufei went and got himself a beer. He sank down next to Duo, watching as the swordsman on the screen ran through a forest.

Wufei tried to relax but he was too tense and he realized it was because he was still expecting to be yelled at or at least be subjected to a couple of snappy remarks. There was nothing besides Duo's noise of triumph as he reached the boss fight, a huge dragon rising out off the ground in front of the hero.

"I'm sorry I'm late." Wufei tried, waiting for the angry retaliation.

Duo just hm'd.

"I was going through a bunch of old toys and stuff in the basement and I didn't have my watch on and then time just flew by and I didn't realize it had gotten so late and I missed bus 5 and had to take nr 7 and it only stops at Lothstreet and I had to run on-"

Duo cut him off with his eyes still on the television. "Wu, chill. I figure that out like two minutes past five. Now shut up, I'm trying to concentrate."

Wufei closed his mouth and watched the swordsman take a swing at the dragon.

"I'm sorry." Wufei tried again as Duo was killed and the game was loading up to give him a second chance.

Duo rolled his eyes, jabbing him with an elbow. "Jesus, Wu, it's not like we had a reservation or anything. It's okay."

"I'm still really sorry that you had to wait."

His friend shrugged, sitting up straighter as the dragon appeared again. "I could just as well have called your parents and asked you to get a move on." He wildly pushed a couple of buttons, making a blue ray of light hit the dragon. "But I wasn't in a hurry. Now shut up or we'll be here all night."

It took Duo another couple of tries before he managed to defeat the dragon and they got up to leave.

Duo shrugged on a jacket, pulling his braid up and out. "Let's go somewhere close, I want my food fast."

Wufei hung his head. "Sorry." He was still feeling a bit unsettled and couldn't really get passed the fact that he was three _hours_ late to a date and it apparently didn't matter.

Duo gave him an amused look. "It's fine, Fei, I sent you a message telling you to take your time."

"The battery is out." He mumbled unhappily. Battery levels had been the last thing on his mind when his father had woken him up far too early by calling to, more or less, order him to be ready in half an hour and what the hell was he still doing in bed when the sun had been up for hours?

"Ah, well then. Being late happens to everyone , it's no big deal." Duo gave him a shove out the door, making him stumbled into the corridor. "Now come on, I'm _hungry_."

"Sorry."

Duo groaned as he locked the door behind them. "I swear to god Wu, if you apologize one more time, I'm going to punch you."

As he followed Duo down the stairs, Wufei once again found himself thinking that dating his best friend was really one of his better ideas.

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They ended up at a pizza place that they had visited a thousand times before for the simple reason that Simon's father owned it.

They were greeted happily by a couple of waiters who had been worked there for years and sat down at their usual booth and made their usual order.

Wufei put his elbows down on the table, glancing around the restaurant. Everything looked the same as it had been when they had been teens. The same tables, the same pictures on the wall, the same offers and the same people. He looked over at Duo who, with the exception of being a couple of years older, was also the same. It didn't feel like a date, it never really did.

It was just Duo and him, eating together like they had done so many times before.

He managed a smile at Simon's sister Erica as she came over with Duo's soda bottle and his water. Absently, he listened as she made small talk with his friend.

It was usually how things went. Wufei wasn't much for small talk, so it was up to Duo to take care of whoever felt like wasting their time on finding out the latest gossip.

Wufei barely noticed when she left, too caught up in his own head. He wondered if he should feel something different right now since the circumstances were _really_ different from when they had been here just as friends compared to now when they were… something else.

Duo lazily blew air through his straw into his soda, eyes stuck on a television in the corner that was showing some kind of reality show.

Wufei watched the bubbling glass.

If this had been a date with a girl, he would have know what to do.

"So…" He started

Duo looked over at him, lips still around his straw.

Wufei tried to think of something to say, but he couldn't think of anything. He had nothing to tell him that his friend hadn't already heard. Hell, there was probably not all that much about him that Duo didn't already know, but you should always show interest in your dates interests and life. That was the first rule of dating.

"What?" Duo asked when no words came.

Wufei grasped at straws. "Um, how was work?"

Duo shrugged. "Pretty good, managed to get out of writing some pointless article over the weekend."

"That's a good sign. They might give you a real assignment soon."

"Yeah, I'm so damn sick of writing stories about elk hunting, school plays, and run away cats." Duo sighed, leaning back in his seat and putting his feet up on the next to Wufei on the bench. "How did it go with the basement?"

"I don't know, pretty good I guess." Wufei shrugged. "You can never really tell in that house. I mostly just carried boxes up to the attic."

"Didn't you just clean that out?" Duo asked slowly.

"Yeah, but now Dad wants to get a ping pong table for the basement."

"What?" Duo's mouth dropped open in surprise. "After we nagged for years for our parents to get one, yours decide to buy one _now_. And since when does your father, of all people, play ping pong?"

"I have no idea."Wufei sighed. "Maybe it's a middle age crisis or something. But whatever it's about, it made them scream at each other for hours."

"Oh, man." Duo grimaced in sympathy.

Wufei sighed, taking a sip of his water. His parents had been fighting as long as he could remember. He had spent his entire teens just waiting for them to get a divorce, but so far they hadn't.

Thank god that he had Duo's parents or he would have been scarred for life and believed that all marriages were based on anger and yelling.

"How's your parents?"

Duo shrugged, bending down to take a sip from his straw. "Nothing new there. They want us over for dinner sometime in the future."

"This weekend?"

"Naw, I don't think they're home, maybe the next. Or we could go on a week day, doesn't matter."

Wufei nodded and as their food arrived he thought that meeting the "in-laws" had never been so easy. Not when they already knew and loved you. Another plus with dating your best friend.

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Later, as they were strolling home after dinner, Wufei found himself lost in thought. Duo was telling him all about the game he had been playing but he wasn't listening, not really. His thoughts were still trying to make sense of their situation. If this was supposed to work they should act more like a couple, but he couldn't quite put his finger on how.

In this situation, what would a couple do?

Pay attention perhaps, that was always a good start. He glanced over at Duo who seemed quite happy with handling his monologue without contributions. Getting to know each other was usual in a new relationship, but they had already done that… since about the time they had been born. They could kiss, but while Wufei kind of enjoyed that, this wasn't the time to do it. They could hold hands but…

Wufei paused.

The last had some potential.

Wufei had taken Duo's hand and held it once before, he figured that doing it again would be a good thing. Couples hold hands. _They_ should hold hands.

But Duo was using both his hands to list what kind of spells he had been able to pick up so far. Lost in thoughts, Wufei watched them move.

He liked hand holding, always had. To calmly walk next to someone and enjoy the closeness of holding their hand while listening to high heels click against the ground. Apart from the sound of high heels, he could experience the same thing with Duo. All he had to do was reach out, Duo would probably be very pleased if he did. But the more he thought about it, the harder it became to actively do it. The last time there had been no thoughts involved, he hadn't planned to do it. Duo had been happy and then suddenly he was reaching out to take his hand. It had been… nice.

This time it was different. He couldn't tell why. He tried to convince himself that he was just thinking too much about it and that was why he couldn't bring himself to reach out. He had several good reasons to do it, but all it did was to make him hesitate.

"I'm going to try the dark side next time, they usually have cooler curses." Duo said, pushing his hand into the pocket of his jacket, unintentionally ruining Wufei's last built up courage to take it in his.

"Plus that the evil guys always look a lot cooler." Duo continued. "Everyone likes a sexy bad guy." He looked over at Wufei with a smile that turned into a frown. "What are you thinking so hard about?" Duo asked, slowing his steps down.

Wufei looked away, suddenly becoming very interested in the process of cleaning up dog droppings happening further down the street. He shrugged halfheartedly, hoping that it would be the end of the conversation.

"Oh, don't you try that with me, give." Duo demanded.

Wufei held back an annoyed sigh. Of course, there was also a down side to dating your best friend, someone who had been with you every step on the way through your childhood, your teenager years, and beyond. Duo had been the one who had stood by him as he had fought his depression, took hesitating steps into the world of dating, and struggled with his art. Duo was not fooled by a nonchalant attitude and a shrug. Wufei just really wished he would, at least in this moment.

He didn't know how to explain his thoughts, convinced that if he did voice them they would sound ridicules and make no sense at all.

A sharp elbow hit him on the arm. "What's wrong? Thinking too much again?"

Wufei nodded, absently rubbing his arm.

"About what?" Duo needled as he picked up his pace again.

Wufei glared straight ahead, trying to get some order among his thoughts to find out where to start. Duo would not leave him alone until he had given in, he knew this from experience.

"We don't act like a couple." He said slowly, picking up his thoughts as he went along. "We go on dates but we don't… act like it's a date."

"Well, what's a date?" Duo countered. "Just an opportunity for two people who like each other to spend time together. There is no need for candle-lit dinners and wine. Everyone is different and this is just the way we do things… unless you want it to be different?" Duo asked, giving him a serious look, as if his answer would change everything. "How would you have wanted it to be? Take this date for example, what was missing? What should we have done to make it better?"

Wufei huffed and looked away, wrapping his arms around himself. He didn't want to talk about this, he wanted Duo to go back to talking about video games and other everyday things. He wanted that carefree mood back. He didn't want to have these kind of conversations, he wanted to be distracted from his pointless thoughts that kept ruining everything for him. There were just so much going on in his head and half of it wasn't making any sense, it was just a mess of fears and over analyzing things that normal people probably didn't think twice about.

He didn't want to pick apart their date, to look close on every part to find out how it could have been done differently. He just wanted… wanted…

"Hand holding." He finished weakly, feeling wrung out.

Duo grinned and reached out to take his hand. "Well, that I can do."

His friend seemed happy with that, turning his attention to their path home.

It really shouldn't make Wufei feel better, nothing had been resolved and nothing essential had changed. But it did, it made him feel much better.

Wufei took a deep breath, feeling himself relax. It was hard to keep track of his analyzing thoughts as Duo rubbed his thumb against the back of his hand

They continued down the street in the cool evening air, hand in hand.

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They had ended up at Wufei's place as usual. Not that Duo minded. Wufei's apartment was cleaner and better organized and had everything he could need. With exception of the game he had been playing. He really should bring his consol over here. He barely spent any time in his own apartment and Wufei's TV was a lot better than his piece of crap one.

Lazily he was channel surfing with his feet up on the living room table that Wufei didn't want him to have his feet on. Every now and then he stopped at something that looked interesting before moving on. He was tired, but it was too early to go to bed so he was just going to stay bored for a while longer.

Wufei had wandered off into his studio, probably being hit by some inspiration.

Duo would be the first one to admit that he didn't know much about art. But he knew what he liked and what he wouldn't put on the wall above the toilet so he wouldn't even have to look at it while he took a shit. Wufei's art, unfortunately, ended up in the second category.

Why someone wanted that depressing stuff on their walls was to him a mystery. There was nothing recognizable on them with exception of a few teardrop shapes and hunched over bodies. Not something that brought your mood up in anyway and Duo secretly hated every single painting Wufei had ever painted… with exception of some of his later works.

"The Best of Friends" was now hanging on his living room wall and just thinking about it made Duo grin happily. Compared to all those earlier dark pictures, it gave him a feeling of contentment and calm. Two blurry shapes holding each other tightly in a chaotic world, taking strength from each other and holding each other up. Two people so close that the lines were blurring and becoming one. And then of course there were the Starship Voyager hovering in the sky. Wufei could babble about youthful innocence and all his artistic bullshit but Duo knew a Star Trek vessel when he saw one.

Ruffling his hair, he dropped the remote down on the couch next to him, stopping on some documentary. Wufei had been thinking hard since he had showed up at his apartment.

It both warmed him and worried him that Wufei was thinking so much about how they were supposed to make this relationship work. Duo was anxious to hear what conclusion he would come to in the end. Things were going so well, almost too well. Duo felt like he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop because turning a straight guy gay shouldn't be going this smoothly, even if Wufei had a bisexual side hiding somewhere in there.

It made him on edge, almost similar to how he felt whenever Wufei was about to have one of his darker periods. The calm before the storm, so to say.

Wufei would start shield away from conversations, getting lost in his thoughts and spending an unhealthy amount of time painting. Then before you knew it, Duo would be working his ass off just to get him to eat and leave his room.

What spoke against it was that Wufei did seem happy and content most of the time. It wasn't at all like when they had been in their teens and to Wufei's credit, he hadn't been _that_ bad since he was seventeen.

But that didn't stop him from worrying. Duo just loved the guy so much. To have been given this chance to have the kind of relationship he had always wanted with his best friend was beyond words. He was grateful to Wufei for starting all this, but at the same time he tried not to believe in it too much. If he allowed himself to fall fully for Wufei, to start making plans and shaping his life after this relationship, it just might kill him when it came to an end.

Because while Wufei was making amazing progress with kissing, hand holding, and random mushy moments, that was a far cry from getting down on his knees to let Duo fuck him like a beast. And while he had plenty of fantasies, reality felt a lot less likely and he just couldn't see it happening.

Sex was a sensitive subject at the moment.

The last thing he needed was for Wufei to start thinking about those pornos he had seen and freaking out again. It was just so typical of Wufei to jump into the deep end and instead of starting with some young, cute twinks rolling around like puppies, he decides to watch a Sadomasochist get Tom of Finland to push his arm up his anus. Yeah, good thinking.

If he had just gotten a hint that Wufei needed more fact he could have explained things for him or even recommended several movies that he might have found interesting. He could have started up with a threesome with two guys fucking a girl, worked it up to a guy fucking both a girl and a guy and then…

Duo sighed. There was no way Wufei would want to watch any gay porn ever again. He had gotten a hold of Wufei's computer and found what it was he had been watching. And while Duo considered himself to be pretty sexually open, that movie had been a bit much and he could totally see why Wufei had freaked out if he had believed, even for a second, that it was going to happen to him as well.

So, porn was out.

He wondered sadly just how long it would take before he got laid again. He was prepared for it to take a pretty long time, but the more he thought about it, the more unlikely did it seem that he was going to have sex within the year. Maybe the next.

The thought was very depressing.

Wufei had one sexy body that he more than ever wanted to get his hands on. And then there was the cock, damn, don't get him started on the cock, because god knows that Duo had spent years obsessing over it.

If there was one thing he wanted to do before he died, it was to ride the massive barrel Wufei kept in his pants.

Realizing that his thoughts were getting away from him and he was starting to develop a problem, Duo sighed and picked up the remote to turn the television off. Putting his feet on the floor, he got up heavily, adjusting his pants as he did so.

Without any real purpose, he strolled into the kitchen. It was, as usual, clean and neat no matter how big of a mess Duo had left the last time he was there.

Humming under his breath he opened the refrigerator, leaning against the door as he scanned for something to snack on. There were some leftovers, plenty of fruit, but not much in the sugar category that he was looking for. He rummaged through the shelves without any real belief that he would find anything before settling for an apple. Another thing that he should bring over from his apartment, one had to have some kind of snacks. Almost hearing Wufei's protests in his head, Duo smirked and made a mental note to swing by his own place and pick up some stuff the next day. He couldn't wait to see Wufei's face when he caught him eating chips on the couch.

Not ready to go back to the television, Duo strolled through the apartment, looking down on the street below and the few cars that passed. It was slowly getting dark and he figured that it should almost be time to go to bed.

He glanced over at the closed door of Wufei's studio. His friend had been in there for a pretty long time now. Duo awkwardly bit his lip, wondering what Wufei was painting. Whatever it was, he hoped it wasn't too depressing.

Deciding that he was never going to get some sleep tonight if he didn't check, Duo crossed the room to peek into the studio. Wufei was painting big blobs of green that, to Duo, looked like someone had been eating seaweed only to throw it back up again.

He breathed out a sigh in relief, there were no black paint on the canvas and that could only mean good things. Leaning against the doorframe, he took a moment to just look. Wufei had his back to him with his headphones on, so Duo figured that he wouldn't be bothering him as long as he didn't even know he was there. Head moving in time with whatever he was listening to, Wufei leaned forward to look closer at the bottom of the canvas where he was carefully applying paint. It made his paint-stained pants shape nicely over his ass, to Duo's great delight.

God the guy was fucking hot without even trying. How he wished that he would get a piece of that. It wasn't likely going to happen, but Wufei kept surprising him lately, so who knew, he might do it at this point too.

Giving his friend one last look, Duo closed the door behind him.

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A/N

Well that was all for now. Be a dear and tell me what you thought about it, would you? :)


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